Justino, a 45-year-old Desana native, is a security guard at the Manaus harbor. As his daughter prepares to study medicine in Brasilia, Justino is taken over by a mysterious fever.
“The Fever” opens up with a symphony of rainforest-dwelling animals and insects calling delightfully to a crescendo that places a meditative smile on Justino’s (Regis Myrupu) face. This tranquil moment is abruptly interrupted by the clanging of machines in a powerful auditory statement while also showcasing the film’s impeccable sound design.
Justino is an indigenous member of the Desana people who were made up of different tribes living along the Amazon in Colombia and Brazil. He works nights as a security guard patrolling the Port of Manaus, an industrial city, surrounded by the Amazonian rainforest. After work, he embarks on a long commute to his humble abode that he shares with his daughter Vanessa (Rosa Peixoto) on the outskirts of town. Vanessa is studying to become a doctor and due to her indigenous background, she struggles to establish respect from her urban colleagues. Similarly, Justino faces discrimination at work being referred to as “the Indian” by his European descending co-workers. Besides these important social hierarchies that ravage the globe, the recurring theme of urbanization being an encroaching threat is fabulously told. Justino’s navigation across dangerous roads just to get home is frustrating and suspenseful. After he comes down with a fever it forces him to recall the past and question his current role unintentionally helping a corporate behemoth loot his natural birthplace of its precious resources.
Director Maya Da-Rin is no stranger to the issue of deforestation and its impact on local indigenous tribes. She previously made two documentaries on the destruction of the Amazon by Brazilian mining companies and it clearly prepared her for this stunning feature. Her direction with cinematographer Barbara Alvarez frames the industrial city and the rainforest in stark contrasts. While every shot remains remarkable, there’s never any showy movement or over stylization. They present Manaus as an artificially loud and bright place devoid of any natural beauty of life whereas, at Justino’s home, massive trees grow in the yard, and the decibels of sounds calling from the rainforest turn up to cathartic levels.
“The Fever” joins intelligent ecological-centered stories like “First Reformed.” In the latter, Ethan Hawke plays a Priest who after being radicalized by a parishioner becomes physically and mentally overwhelmed by the state of the world. Justino’s sickness is a brilliant metaphor for a system that continues to devastate the environment and its inhabitants with seemingly no antidote on the horizon.
Now playing in Virtual Theaters
