User Reviews

Unlike any gangster/drug movie you've ever seen, Pájaros de verano (Birds of Passage) is from the same team that made the astonishing El abrazo de la serpiente (2015), and presents a thematically similar narrative, looking at the disintegration of an ancient indigenous culture over a period of years; in this case, the Wayúu people of the Guajira Peninsula in northern Colombia, whose way of life is decimated by the marijuana trade during the 1970s. Written by nm8683279 and Jacques Toulemonde Vidal from a story by Cristina Gallego, and directed by Gallego and Ciro Guerra, the film is thematically focused on the clash between ancient tradition and modern greed, and is deeply respectful of the Wayúu, with Gallego and Guerra clearly troubled by the cultural losses concomitant with monetary prosperity. Partly an ethnographic study and partly a genre film depicting the rise and fall of a drug kingpin á la Scarface (1983), Pájaros strikes a broadly successful balance, allowing genre to inform anthropology and anthropology to enrich genre. On paper, it could be dismissed as just another gangster film, and although their adherence to the genre template does occasionally work against the story they're trying to tell, Gallego and Guerra have made a beautifully nuanced, aesthetically exceptional, and deeply lamentative film.

Loosely based on a true story, and divided into five sections - "Canto I: Wild Grass" (1968), "Canto II: The Graves" (1971), "Canto III: Prosperity" (1979), "Canto IV: The War" (1980), and "Canto V: Limbo" (1981) - Pájaros opens in a Wayúu village in 1968, with a ceremony celebrating the coming of age of Zaida (Natalia Reyes), which doubles as a courtship ritual. When Rapayet (José Acosta) makes a claim on her, her mother Úrsula (Carmiña Martínez) is unimpressed, because as a small trader of coffee and liquor, he is Zaida's social inferior, and hoping to put him off, she assigns him a dowry far beyond his means. However, he seizes on something suggested by his business partner, Moisés (Jhon Narváez), who has pointed out that the local American Peace Corp are looking for someone from whom to buy weed to bring it back to the US. Selling them the marijuana they want, Rapayet is not especially bothered that such illegal trade is frowned upon by the Wayúu, and he quickly makes enough money to secure the dowry, marrying Zaida. By the time we reach Canto II in 1971, Rapayet and the increasingly hot-headed and reckless Moisés are flying planeloads of weed across the border, and making so much money they have to weigh it rather than count it. However, as time passes, and the business becomes bigger and bigger, Úrsula warns Rapayet to tread carefully, but as the profit continues to escalate, so too do the tensions between the various players, compounded by Úrsula's cruel and uncontrollable son Leonídas ([link=nm9820632).

That Pájaros is aiming for a grand, folkloric tale of national significance, along the same lines as more traditional Colombian myths such as La Llorona or El Mohan, is seen in the fact that it both begins and ends with a blind bard narrating the events. Taken directly from the Homeric tradition, the presence of this figure immediately indicates the kind of story this is.

Aesthetically, although not as striking as Embrace of the Serpent, Pájaros still looks fantastic. Cinematographer David Gallego does a fantastic job of capturing the vast openness of the desert, with exquisitely composed shots that make full use of the 2.35:1 format, often dwarfing the characters against the immensity of the desert background. In terms of performances, Carmiña Martínez is the standout, tapping into the similarities between Úrsula and the queen in any number of Greek tragedies, someone whose beliefs are grounded in ethics, but who is on a preordained path of tragedy from which she cannot escape. And just as the gods were indifferent to the suffering of Euripides's Medea and Sophocles's Electra, so too are the deities of the Wayúu.

Throughout the film, the economy of Gallego and Guerra's visual language is striking. For example, early on, Rapayet, Zaida, and Úrsula are all shown living in small thatched huts made of stone and wood. Later, however, they live in in a heavily guarded sprawling modernist mansion in the middle of the desert. Another example is that, initially, we see Rapayet and Moisés using only one plane to carry their weed, but later, they have a fleet of planes at their command, telling us in one shot how much the scale of their operation has increased.

Although they remain within the parameters of the crime drama, depicting the rise and fall of a gangster, Guerra and Gallego are more concerned with the impact of the drug trade on the Wayúu than the drug trade itself. Uninterested in going into detail about the logistics of Rapayet's operation, they instead use the genre template as a platform from which to examine the clash between the ancient local traditions of the Wayúu and the ubiquitous and corruptive nature of monetary accruement as found in the twentieth-century world at large. The Wayúu are proud of how deep their customs run and how long they have maintained them, but their nonconformist and isolationist ideology has never faced anything as insidious as the avarice introduced by Rapayet. Just how corruptive it is, is seen in Leonídas, a boy who has grown up amidst amorality, corruption, and crime, and whose soul is built on Mammonism and entitlement. In the film's most disturbing scene, to "prove" his manhood to his friends, he forces a man to eat dog faeces for a wad of cash. Nothing in Wayúu history has ever prepared them for this level of barbarism.

In this sense, Pájaros is fundamentally about the clash between tradition and modernity; codes of honour and reciprocity destroyed by greed, materialism, and mistrust. In depicting the society before the birth of the drug trade, however, Gallego and Guerra are trying to reclaim Colombia's history for Colombians. All a lot of people know about Colombia comes from films made almost exclusively by non-Colombians for non-Colombians (think of Americentrist films such as Blow (2001), The Infiltrator (2016), and American Made (2017)). The film thus has an anthropological basis, immersing us in Wayúu culture throughout. However, Gallego and Guerra don't need to go into detail about the ins and outs of dream analysis, the systems of hegemony and protocol, the exchange-based economy, or the specifics of why one necklace is sacred but another is not. We're shown enough to understand how these people live - the centrality of family, the respect for the natural world, the reverence for the dead, the significance of communal ritual, the importance of ancient customs and superstitions, and above all, honour in all things.

The film makes its intentions known in the opening scene, which is built around Zaida's ceremony, just as The Godfather (1972) indicates its main focus with the opening depiction of a wedding. Without any dialogue, the scene establishes the socio-political centrality of ritual and introduces us to the hierarchies and spiritual beliefs. This opening scene is contrasted with a later scene depicting a "second burial"; a custom where a casket is unearthed and opened, and the bones of the deceased cleaned and reburied. Unlike in the opening, the ritual in this scene is surrounded by men with machine guns; a nice bit of cinematic shorthand to show us how much has changed. In another example, after doing something to anger a rival clan, Leonídas is hidden away in a hut, and Úrsula performs a protective incantation. Leonídas, however, is unimpressed, saying he'd be happier if he was protected by men with guns. Elsewhere, a motif running through the film is the threat of a locust infestation, and when violence inevitably erupts, it's presented like a plague on the land, something that cannot be contained and that will blight all it touches.

In terms of problems, there are a few. For one, Rapayet is an extremely stoic character and very vaguely defined. He doesn't really come across as a person with an interiority, so rather than being someone who pursues things, he is someone to whom things happen, a cypher at the mercy of what the writers need him to be at any given moment. Along these lines, Zaida fares even worse. Despite the opening scene suggesting her centrality to the narrative, once she and Rapayet are married, she essentially becomes a background extra.

These few issues notwithstanding, Pájaros de verano is an exceptional film about the clash between the old and new worlds. A melancholy corrective to films such as Loving Pablo (2017) and shows such as Narcos (2015), it tells a story of a traditional culture decimated by greed. Making a powerful statement about what has been lost, by and large, Gallego and Guerra handle the integration of ethnographic study and genre film very well, with the movie as a whole serving as an excellent example of how talented filmmakers can use genre to serve their own thematic ends without necessarily making a genre film. Neither a thriller with some local details thrown on top nor a documentary with a manufactured dramatic structure, Pájaros is compelling and heartfelt throughout. The sense of detail, the cultural specificity, and the tragic inevitability of the story serve to fuse the socio-political, the ethnographic, and the thriller into a whole that is unlike any drug film you're likely to see.

This marvelous movie takes place in Colombia, within the Peninsula of the Guajirain, a sparsely populated and arid area, and mostly played with Wayuu autochthons. This timeless univers is characterized by a rather pronounced communitarianism, each village highlighting its differences with the surrounding ones, while the origin of these differences remains, as often, unexplained and obscure. Nevertheless, they share ancestral traditions, folklore and values such as honor and family bonds. Thus, during the first 30 minutes, we do not really know when the film takes place, until the informative and surprising appearance of cars. Thus, we may guess that we are in the 60s / 70s. A marriage proposal between a man and a woman from two neighboring tribes will be, by a strange combination of circumstances related to an exorbitant dowry, the opportunity to integrate the marijuana trafficking, which is a very lucrative universe while slowly distorting personalities. Like in a Greek tragedy, these families will ineluctably suffer a descent into hell, via the classical 'eye for eye, tooth for tooth' philosophy.

The film is visually sober and simple, but of an exacerbated aestheticism, with an unusual care about details, including birds. Moreover, the actors are excellent, especially the two main ones: José Acosta (Rapayet) and Carmiña Martínez (Úrsula).

Greetings again from the darkness. It's not unusual for movies to "trick" us into embracing a drug dealer, and even kind of rooting for them - despite the near universal condemnation of such folks when we are outside of a dark theatre. Co-directors Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra were the producer and director behind the Oscar nominated EMBRACE OF THE SERPANT (2015) about an Amazon tribe striving to hold tight to their way of life despite outside interference. This time out, they focus on the rural Guajira territory of Columbia, with its desert conditions and villagers committed to their own traditions.

The film is based on a true story and covers the time period of 1960-1980, and is separated by chapter titles that include the year and a hint of what's to follow. We first see Zaida (Natalia Reyes) as a girl in confinement as she prepares to be introduced as a woman to the villagers. This is one of the more elaborate rituals of the village, and it leads to Rapayet (Jose Acosta) asking for Zaida's hand in marriage. Her mother Ursula, a respected village elder, sets the dowry at what she believes in an unattainable level for Rapayet: 30 goats, 20 cows, and 5 necklaces. Ursula has unwittingly set off a chain of events that eventually brings the family money, power, and tragedy. How can a few goats and cows cause this? Well, when one is poor and needs to quickly assemble a large dowry, what better way than to enter the drug trade? And that's exactly what Rapayet does.

Rapayet's friend and partner in the coffee trading business, Moises (Jhon Narvaez), joins him in the transition of careers, and while Rapayet is content to build his empire quietly and under the radar, Moises runs amok with the power and money. Ursula is respected for her abilities as a dream reader, and she's constantly dousing Rapayet's business with the cold water of her visions ... worried mostly about the safety of her daughter Zaida. By 1971, Rapayet's business of peddling marijuana to gringos is booming, and by 1979 (in a chapter entitled "Prosperity") we see the results: a mansion-fortress in the desert protected by guards with automatic weaponry (a sure sign that bad news is on the way).

What began as a look at peaceful remote villagers sticking to the traditional path of their ancestors, transforms into a drug war featuring cartel mobsters. Cinematographer David Gallego contrasts the beauty and simplicity of traditions with the danger and violence of new money and new world order. Leonardo Heiblum's score is a terrific complement as well. The infancy of the Columbian drug trade presented here conveniently places blame on the free-spirited youngsters of the Peace Corps; while the story plays out like a Greek tragedy, replete with mixed messages on revenge, capitalism, tradition, greed, and family ties. It's a rags-to-riches story that pulls no punches when it comes to the price paid for taking an illicit shortcut. It's a path that can destroy lives and culture.

This film was not what I expected. And I mean that in the most positive way possible. What I expected was another rehashing of the Colombian drug cartel wars / gun fights / Pablo Escobar type stuff, and while there is certainly some of that here, the film is so much more than that.

This film takes you to a remote and little known corner of northern Colombia and immediately immerses you in the local culture. I hope this is not a spoiler but I was left speechless by the simple fact that Spanish is not actually the language being spoken in most of the film - instead it's the regional native dialect of the tribes-people that the film follows. Being completely foreign to Colombia, this was all new and fascinating to me. The film does a wonderful job portraying these proud people and their culture, and how the larger Colombian "drug" culture seeps in with its temptations of money and power. The lesson of what happens when those two mix is a timeless one.

The landscapes of the film are stunning, and I particularly appreciated the cinematography. But perhaps my favourite thing about the film was it's heavy use of spirituality and what I can only describe as "magical realism" transposed into film. I thought it was brilliantly done.

This is one of my favourite films I've seen this year, hands down.

Birds of Passage (Pájaros de verano in Spanish) is a striking and fascinating look into an 'alien' world, a term I use here because this film is a deep dive into another time and far different culture. It could be another planet almost. The film is about events in the 60's and 70's especially regarding the Wayuu of northern Colombia, an Indigenous culture quite divorced from Columbia proper with a distinct language and customs quite different from the rest of Columbia. The English translation presented is always that they are 'Indians' but quite unique if you compare only to the Indians of America. If you look at a map of Columbia, the colorful Wayuu inhabit the peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic in the far north. It's a desert area in part but has green agricultural area in the hills, where marijuana was cultivated very successfully. This film is brilliant and riveting but has the drawback in our own culture of having subtitles, but deserves an audience beyond the multiplex. This great work of movie art retells the story of the Wayuu during the late 60's, early-70's, when Peace Corps volunteers were in the area and the gringos were looking for pot. I understand the fascination of tribal cultures from my own Peace Corps service in Iran, also in the late-60's, and the attraction to cannabis from nearby Afghanistan. As is striking in indigenous cultures, the family is everything to the protagonists of the film with trust in the dream world (literally), family tribal elders and the ways of their ancestors. This area had deep poverty before the exporting of the region's very potent marijuana to the states was embraced. The demand was fed by young Americans willing to pay top dollar for it. I can speak to this also as in 1971 Colombian pot was around in New York City that we called the "two puff stuff". I didn't know anything about origins of this marijuana. I did know a pilot, who had served in the Vietnam and flew planeloads of pot out of Columbia into the States so I had some awareness of the demand. There are better descriptions than I will make of plot details of this film here on IMDB. Not noted directly in the film: by the mid-1980's the violent Medellin cartel took over the Marijuana business from the Wayuu and their region descended again into poverty. The Wayuu people stepped away from further drug-related violence, as had been unleased previously within their clan groups who had run their region's elicit trade. I emphasize in my review the universal theme presented in the film of the undoing of greed and betrayal on traditional and humane values. This epic film ends with a 'war' between warring families or clans. This film is from Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra, who made the unusual "Embrace of the Serpents", a striking and hallucinatory Oscar nominated film, very highly rated on IMDB, but not by me. I didn't appreciate that film as much Birds of Passage. However, having seen this later film from this incredible team, I'll go back and see 'Serpents' again to give it another view.

Birds of Paradise takes a familiar subject, the Colombian drug scene in the '60's and '70's, and makes it into a watchable Godfather saga. Family is the center of the action leading to, you guessed it, warring drug kingdoms. The cinematography is lush, the actors authentic, and the themes eternal.

The stuff that makes the world happy, weed, comes down from the mountains to the small airplanes, which fly north to the US, a pleased customer bringing prosperity to otherwise impoverished Colombians. Marriage promises families forever linked until capitalism, not communism, rends even the strongest familial ties.

The five "cantos" embrace happiness and misery in equal measure: wild grass, the graves, prosperity, the war, and limbo. The coming out party of gorgeous Zaida (Natalia Reyes) presages a bright future for her Wayuu tribe with a blazing-red silk dress and stunning face paint. However, the imposing mother Ursula (Carmina Martinez) demands an expensive dowry that suitor Rapayet (Jose Acosta) might have difficulty offering. This matriarch gives the lie to any theory that Latino culture is purely patriarchal.

Ambition leads to drug running, family feuding, and temporary wealth. The riches are embodied in the colorful fabrics that are flamboyant and garish at the same time. The dark downfalls could be written about anywhere.

Birds of Passage is an engaging and beautiful gloss on the effects of tribalism and the corruptions of wealth and power, exacerbated by the obsession with the belief in family to die for at all costs. It is a glowing and menacing reprise of the Colombian Corleone days set amongst the indigenous Wayuu, for whom only a few moments are in paradise.

Guerra & Gallego's Wayuu crime epic is dense and beautiful, but a necessary part of its long maudlin descent is that it becomes a serious drag especially towards the end. It's not as transformatively psychedelic as Guerra's Embrace which I adore but it has some seriously brilliant sequences and the sprawling (mainly Wayuu) ensemble cast gives it a beautiful foundational weight. I felt like I learned a lot about this period and place as well as the dark ripples which a sudden influx of money can have on people's choices, on power and greed. It's harrowing because although it is set somewhere very specific, it feels like it could have happened anywhere.

Spanning era of tribal trade in Colombia from coffee to cannabis, with first opulence and soon decadence in the lives of the Waayu families. Very real depiction of customs and traditions becoming squashed by greed and corruption.

This film is without a doubt a thought- provoking, chaotic and memorable experience. A lot of films choose to talk about the drug wars and the effects that power and money can have to humans, but this one feels like no other. It is griping and intense and handles its subject material in the best of ways. It is obvious that the creator of the film did everything he could so that the movie feels realistic and interesting to the viewer. Its beautiful and colorful visuals, the exceptional sound design and the strong and immersive soundtrack made you feel as a part of a whole and the film never felt boring or cliche. It is masterfully crafted and really well-paced. Every conversation and direction that the film takes feels logical and you can feel the chaos slowly coming to the surface and destroying this tribe's life. Also, whenever a certain ritual was taking place, like the bird-like dance or the spitting by the old lady that is the matriarch o the tribe, I was instantly hooked by it. Its a movie about life and death and how a small change could lead to a larger one and to a larger one and in the end to death and chaos. Its a story about people which are trapped in their own deadly webs and are unable to escape. Everything that was young and beautiful,the red dress of the young actress, the insects and the kids, the dances and that feel of family, togetherness and spirituality is lost and overshadowed by dullness and corrupted and greedy people, who seek power but in the end find death. Tragic indeed 8/10 and who knows? maybe a 9 on a second watch

Birds of Passage is an uneasy "family" drama boasted by stern, austere performances from a majority of its cast who are somehow newcomers to the world of show business. The central hallmark that makes this spectacle protrude gloriously is its lustrous gambits in storytelling.

This movie divulges and cuts just the right amount of excerpts while concurrently, covering a ton of ground without having to sacrifice its grandeur through typical exposition (which is a lying factor that so many dramas fall under these days). The progression this film disburses is to be eulogized.

Birds of Passage is an art-piece made to make its audience jittery. So many moments are placidly conferred yet, so many moments, all of a sudden, become anxiously INTENSE. The score is culturally fitting as well, and quite mesmeric.

One could assert that the story at hand doesn't necessarily submit any plot surprises or isn't too arbitrary nor bonafide for that matter but, considering the material withheld in Birds of Passage is-for the most part-factually true, it's burdensome to smear the movie down due to these "shortcomings".

If you savor films like American Made, Sicario 1 & 2, or TV shows like Breaking Bad, Narcos, or anything that links with the drug cartel genre in general, I 100% recommend seeking this thriller out. Birds of Passage is an arrestingly sheltered record about the ruinous and tearing origins of the Colombian drug trade.

Verdict: B

First, I want to make it clear that I do not agree with some people on «Embrace of the Serpent». For me it is an important and valuable film, regardless of its awards, for the sole merit (if it only had one) of reminding us all people of America the continent, that we have let trample the great contribution of the original cultures of this land: the harmonious coexistence with Nature and the knowledge and benefits that derive from it.

We betrayed that contribution by embracing the Judeo-Christian "ideals" of the West that the "conquerors" brought, like the plague. We embraced the notions of the "white-faced gods" who gave us mirrors in exchange for our gold, and we adhered to the unruled development agenda, and the destruction and ignorance of all the wisdom contained in our original cultures. I do not compromise in this belief and for that, I consider «Embrace of the Serpent» a touchstone of contemporary Latin America cinema.

That said, there is a considerable gap between this film and «Birds of Summer». I do not know what the reason is. Maybe it is the direction shared with the producer Cristina Gallego, unlike other films in which Ciro Guerra had the sole credit. Maybe it is the flat Aristotelian script, less daring than that of «Embrace of the Serpent», with five chapters (or songs) that recount twelve years of increasing violence and death, in which new "white-faced gods" arrived with another agenda (the anticommunist campaigns of the Peace Corps) and language. Perhaps it is the theatricality of a few professional actors contrasting with the freshness of natural actors, or the inevitable intrusion of melodrama, which affects the impact of the tragedy being told.

The drama of the young Wayuu Rapayet (José Acosta) who, to win the hand of Zaida (Natalia Reyes), must raise a fortune to pay the dowry that will benefit the bride's family clan, under the supervision of the energetic matriarch Úrsula (Carmiña Martínez), becomes entangled as the history of drug trafficking is settling and dominating the story.

It would be easy to applaud the achievement if we were to see an action film, with tension, death and shooting, and to pry into rites and customs of a culture that resists extinction, largely caused by our indifference and stupidity. However, in «Birds of Summer» coexists another film, which is not historical memory, but is nourished by it; and that is not anthropology, but benefits from the beauty of the Wayuu Nation, its people and manifestations.

In the midst of this search for balance, in my opinion partially achieved, the film navigates. The movie is more complex and ambitious than the easy associations that some people make, like old westerns or the Corleone saga. It is an attempt to entertain, mixing elements of an indigenous culture (which some call "exotic") and the history of Colombia.

In my eyes, the attempt is too much like «mainstream» cinema (like the imitations that Solanas and Getino called "second cinema") and that, in my opinion, we do not need in Latin America.

Like 'Get Out' - this film shows how easy it is to succumb to the power of suggestion.

Let me preface my review by saying this: I am not cynical. I NEVER say that a film is overrated. I never watch a film and say "I hated that"; If I don't like a film after I watch it for the first time - I simply say that I need to watch it again; Most of my favorite films are ones that I didn't "get" the first (or second or third) time I watched them. I think that always keeping an open mind, allows you to like so many more films/works of Art, because you never have it in your mind that you don't like something, so you're always giving things another chance. I also never say that a film is bad or overrated-simply because I think it's extremely arrogant to assume that: If I didn't "get" the film ... that means that nobody else did... So, for me to say a film is overrated or "bad" - is *extremely* rare. That has happened no more than 2 or 3 times in my life; In fact, the only time I remember thinking a film (OR album) was "bad" or overrated ... was "Get Out".

So-Please take those things into consideration when you read the rest of this...

As I was watching Birds of Passage - I was *literally in shock* - that a film with such overwhelmingly positive reviews ... could be SO bad. It was actually surreal. I kept waiting for things to change-Where I thought that I was just missing "something", or that I was not in the mood or being cynical, or that there would be some kind of way that all of the things that seemed bad about the film-would somehow be resolved... That never happened. The longer the film went on ... the WORSE it got.

I don't even know where to start, so I guess I'll start with the most blatant problem with Birds Of Passage... The plot of this film is *LITERALLY* a 'mix and match' of the EXACT same plot points-from all of the other drug dealer films/shows; Traffic, Blow, Breaking Bad, Scarface, etc. It's seriously like a greatest hits compilation-being put out as a new album.

What's worse is that the plot points make absolutely no sense, within the context of the characters.

It is the exact definition of "expediency"-Where, it's like every plot point is included for the sole purpose of just getting to the next part of the story. Things would just "happen". There were multiple times where I was watching a "pivotal scene" and thinking "Where did this come from? "Why would he do that?"... I know that sounds like I'm exaggerating but I swear to you, I'm not.

Imagine if: In The Dark Knight ... Batman just started robbing banks in the second act of the movie... THAT is what it seemed like was happening in Birds Of Passage.

The film just runs through plot points. It truly seems like the screenplay was made by: cutting and pasting other "drug dealer movie" plot points ... Then, writing a *cliff notes version* of that - Then, using THAT as the script.

So, the plot is a compilation of the exact same plot points in a million other movies, AND none of the plot points make sense.... AND on top of all that, you develop no connection, to ANY of the characters. Absolutely None.

By the third act, you still don't have any reason to feel emotionally invested in what happens, to anyone.

I feel like I've seen "that" kind of critique in a lot of reviews before-but I've always thought that it seemed like it was just a bunch of words, because I've never really experienced that from a film.

Now, I know exactly what they mean when they say that. I don't even know how to explain it; I just felt like I did not know anything-about any of the characters, and that I didn't connect with any of them, on any level.

Next, although it wasn't like the acting, in its entirety-was awful ... But there were definitely moments where I thought the acting seemed pretty bad.

I don't know how else to explain-how "surreal" it was to watch this film. I just kept thinking "is this really happening? Is this movie actually THIS BAD? What am I missing? Something has to change. How is this movie so bad? ..."

The only thing this movie has going for it-is the cinematography. Visually, it's absolutely BEAUTIFUL.

I actually think that the cinematography *may* have tricked people into thinking that the film was good; You wouldn't expect a film that is shot so well-to be so bad.

Aside from that, the only possible explanation that I can think of, for "how" this film got the kind of praise that it got ... is from some kind of "political-esque bias", or something like that; Like, maybe because the film is foreign, or that it has a female co-director and writer ... although, I think that the praise for Get Out-was 1000% because of "that kind of thing" ... I feel like that bias for this film seems like a bit of a stretch... But I seriously cannot fathom how any critic could say anything positive about the movie, unless they had SOME kind of bias, that would make them do so.

It's seriously THAT bad.

Let me end by saying this: I do not like that I am writing a bad review for a piece of art, I HATE "hating on art".

I would MUCH rather prefer "praising art".

However, the "hype" and bias surrounding art, especially in film, has gotten out of hand-to the point of absurdity.

A film does not deserve to be praised-simply because 'it is praised'. A film does not deserve to be praised simply because it has a certain political or ideological stance that is consistent with the critic's political/ideological beliefs.

These kinds of things are destroying art.

If something is good - it is good.

If it is bad - it is bad.

End of story.

That is how it should be.

"Birds of Passage" (2018 release from Colombia; 125 min.) is a drug drama about a Wayuu (northern Colombia) family. As the movie opens, Zaida has completed her year of confinement "with grace and dignity" according to her mom, and now the village is celebrating Zaida becoming a woman. Rapayet, a young man in the village, has his eyes on her, and his uncle asks Zaida's family. The family, however, is demanding a dowry of 30 goats and 20 cows, among other things. Rapayet needs to come up with money, lots of money, and by coincidence (when a Peace Corps guy is looking for weed) gets involved in the drug trade... At this point we're less than 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot will spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from Ciro Guera (who previously brought us the equally excellent "Embrace of the Serpent") and Cristina Gallego. "Birds of Passage" follows one particular family's involvement in the drug trade from 1968 to 1980, and the movie is brought in 5 chapters (called "Songs" in the movie: Song I Wild Grass 1968' Song II The Graves 1971, etc. When you heard the words "drug trade" and "Colombia", we typically associate them with movies like "Escobar: Paradise Lost". "Birds of Passage" is a completely different type drug drama, mostly because this deal with an isolated clan, where family and tradition means everything (literally), and due to the small and remoteness of this clan, everything becomes personal very quickly. The cast, unknowns but for Natalia Reyes (who plays Zaida), is generally outstanding. Last but not least, be sure to check out the scenery, which is almost a character in and of itself.

"Bird of Passage" premiered at last year's Cannes film festival to great acclaim, and it finally appeared this weekend at my local art-house movie theater, I couldn't wait to see it. The Sunday matinee screening where I saw this at was attended poorly (6 people including myself). If you are interested in seeing a Colombia drug drama from a very different perspective that what you probably envision, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

... but birds can sing this story so it can remain forever.

My favourite parts of the film had to do with the cantors singing about their own view on the happenings while the inspiring photography drives us into another world. In fact many different worlds, considering we're led from the desert to the foggy mountains to the beach.

A sui generis gangster movie where indigenous traditions, folklore, religion and tribal ways of life take us through this journey of a family being torn by its own ambition of being thriving and united. But also - and probably more important for the author indulging in the showcase of such folklore - a story about the modern world destroying the old one.

I had reviewed "El Abrazo de la Serpiente" by Guerra (with a 4 out of 10.. getting myself a lot of bad votes), and my curiosity towards this movie started with the trailer as it was released: EAdlS might have been a bad movie, but the basic material wasn't bad at all - this new endeavour should be better, embracing the easier-to-digest ganster genre. And here we are: despite a certain slow pace and the obvious constant lingering on the local culture which lots of people might not be fond of, this is obviously a huge improvement.

Regarding the weak points I find the direction very static: most of what happens feels like happening on a stage where actors are all well ordered in rows or ensembles positioned perfectly for the viewer, whether they are talking, negotiating or killing each other. Definetely not realistic and contrary to any action-movie standard.

Also the conclusion, though furtunately avoiding the stupid gangster movie traditional tropes, feels totally underwhelming: the writers could have found something in line with the rest of the movie without leaving the viewer disappointed with such a forgettable ending.

I don't know. Maybe in 50 years we'll be considerig Mr Guerra like Antonioni, and people like me, just idiots unable to get his art. I don't think so but we'll see.

Anyways a great movie. Ty to all involved.

This isn't exactly a fun watch, but it's definitely an engrossing, well-told film with some deadly turns.

The title is very symbolic on two levels... while Rapayet (José Acosta) has become a "businessman", conducting trade between the gringos and the native people of columbia, he is also bypassing the traditions and customs of their people. When he wants to take a wife from the neighboring family, he doesn't follow the proper protocol; he doesn't speak with the right people first, and is sent away by Ursula (Carmiña Martínez), the native elder. This pushes Rapayet to go bigger and better in his "import export business, which seems to be marijuana. When a huge deal goes south thanks to his partner, something must be done for honor. The partner has spilled blood on native land, and they want the partner to leave. But he doesn't want to go. Then the killings start. Can things be repaired between the families? What will happen to the drug business that has made everyone prosper? Does Ursula pay too much attention to the omens and birds? There's a "second wake" for a dead man.. .where they wash each bone, years after the death. It's a story of changing times, respect, honor between families over time. Directed by Cristina Gallego, Ciro Guerra. Good stuff, if you have the patience.

Dreams prove the existence of the soul, but absent brains there is not a soul to keep. In this 50-year-old true story Rapayet is a self-made and independent man wooing a young woman, Zaida, from the Wayuu tribe of North Colombia. With the help of connections and a large quantity of weed, Rapayet gains a girl. He is respectful, gentle, wise and opportunistic. Unfortunately, his companions are not. Greed and carelessness combine with a headstrong mother-in-law to contend with Rapayet's good intentions.

From the creators of the academy award nominated The Embrace of the Serpent, Birds of Passage takes this cartel tale to unexpected places. For instance when I expected a night attack on Rapayet, instead there is a serenade. Truth is stranger than fiction. The blend of professional and non-professional actors works out well. It is extremely interesting to see Wayuu customs and traditions clash with technology and money. The film-makers are adept at this sort of portrayal. I wish the title, its accompanying theme and the dream sequences were developed further. There was some good banter between characters, but there should have been more depth here too. Overall a fascinating and visually appealing glimpse at Wayuu ways and intriguing characters.

An earthy gangster epic filtered through a spiritual tone poem with the style of a slow arthouse picture. While an interesting take on the effect of the drug trade on indigenous communities and the conflict between generations, Birds of Passage is ultimately too generic. The characters are fairly one-dimensional and it could've done with emphasising the spiritualistic aspect more.

For the most part an accurate dramatization of the beginning & ending of the cannabis trade out of northeast Colombia (Guajira region). From the mid '70s to the mid '80s millions of dollars of the weed was grown & transported by boat & small plane to the Americas, mostly Florida as U.S. destination. We see how it begins with a small indigenous Wayuu village being enticed into the trade, first by an alijunas (disparaged outsiders, usually European), but then as the millions roll in they begin to run the trade themselves (called the Bonanza Marimbera) with perhaps 80% of the farmers now planting weed instead of coffee. The Americans brought the seed, and it grew really well in the region's Sierra Nevada mountains. As a result of the vast influx of money the locals started building mansions everywhere even with nothing but barren land surrounding for miles. The Americans tired of seeing such an influx arranged a military alliance with the government. Result in '79 alone, 147 airplanes taken down; 60 boats sunk; herbicide sprayed everywhere.

The drama is broken into five chapters (songs) that show how the wealth affected & destroyed a family & village. One song partially as follows, "A story about a wild grass that came as a savior, but destroyed like locusts ... grass took other shapes and it was always joined by greed." Many non-actors (including some indigenous) & acting was not the greatest, but that added to it's authenticity.

This film portrays the erosion of an indigenous peoples' way of life as they moved from traditional ventures to becoming drug dealers. They pay the price in a significant way in that their simple existence is destroyed by new rules and a heavy price by the trade. There is a lack of continuity caused by poor editing and story telling, but overall it's not a bad movie to watch if you are interested in the erosion of an ancient culture by the Narco trade.

I only respect one reviewer here after sifting through many obviously related reviews to some movies and others who have a personal bias for or against them. The fake reviews have almost killed this site but one I look forward to and feel assured of a quality, non-biased review is by Ferguson-6, reviewing this very movie in fact. The others, well, meh, you can spot the fake reviews but it's a pain in the proverbial to wade through the crap. Keep safe in the shadows Ferguson-6, I tip my hat.

The action films wrapped in literary films, if you cut off those indifferent literary styles, like the dream of a bird worm, or a complete structure. In the desolate land, it is really amazing to sell the original psychedelic crops and make two families. What bloody taste comes with wealth, this is a nonsense that doesn't look at the film at all. The family was ruined by conservatives and stupid children. In addition, you are a drug lord building your home on the vast plains, not looking for death.

I'm just writing because the imdb and metacritic points for this big production arthouse piece are too high.

Conditions like the arthouse vibe and the international value of the production are promising a really good movie, but the mentioned topics are unfortunately just abusing the situation. It is hard to built a spiritual connection to the roles and the dramatic story. Many scenes are built on traditional cerenomies and cultural habits of the the folk, which are putting the audience away from the action. The camera is afraid to show the action scenes in details and the blood is obviously just red paint. The cast really tried to shoot a serious drama, but it is nothing else as two hours of cliche.

My special recommendation for arthouse addicts is the colombian pearl Los Hongos; it proves that Colombia has many other things to tell