Powerlands (2022) Dir. Camille Manybeads Tso

Power lands, 2022 is a documentary that follows indigenous communities around the world from the United States, the Philippines, and Mexico in their resistance against major corporations that exploit their indigenous lands. The documentary speaks to people within these areas, and highlight their relationships to their land, and how the resulting exploitation of these corporations has effectively change their lives. The documentary also shows ways in which these indigenous people resist against this change and use community engagement to resist within their own power.

I did not come in to watching this documentary with any expectations. When the documentary focused on members of the Navajo nation, I was particularly interested because in a previous class, I did research on the effects of COVID-19 on members of the Navajo nation. This project opened me up to learning about the systematic issues that have plagued them as a result of capitalist exploitation. I was aware of the poisoning of their water, the destruction of their land, food insecurity and water insecurity within these communities. Even though I was aware of the struggles of the Navajo nation, having it told by different people is powerful. This makes me think of digital storytelling, especially about the stories of migration and the digital stories we studied in the class. You can understand the issue of migration in a broad sense, but hearing the stories of individuals facing issues under the same persecution, adds depth and power. The continual disregard for indigenous peoples ancestral lands and the exploitation of marginalised groups is a tale we are all too familiar with, but that doesn't mean it should continue to be retold by different people within the same communities.

I think the choice of music in this documentary was tasteful and periods of silence were intentional. There was enough room for me as the viewer to breathe. In serious moments the sound reflected the tone, in a sensical way and it wasn’t overdramatic. Sometimes documentaries can go overboard with the music to the point it can often come across as satirical like a true crime documentary and undercut the message. Poletti agrees with this sentiment and highlights the importance of a soundtrack in Coaxing an intimate public: Life narrative in digital storytelling the soundtrack (element number 5) listing it as a key element of a digital story. One excellent example from the documentary came with the introduction of Celestino Bartolo Terán a Zapotec Farmer in Oaxaca, Mexico. The use of juxtaposition in the beginning of the section was extremely powerful. It starts off with a Zapotec farmer, speaking about his thoughts on animals and his relationships with songbirds while showing off his crop. While all this happens you can hear sounds of nature, like songbirds, dogs barking, the humming of insects and a cheerful guitar tune. The scene then jumps to a clip of a wind turbine with the sounds of an eerie mechanical hum. This was powerful and immediately stood out to me. There is debate on whether wind turbines are an extreme threat to bird populations and the truth is some birds do get killed by wind turbines. Scientists, aiming to push more environmentally friendly approaches to energy production may write it off as negligible. When I think about it from the perspective of somebody who has a relationship to the birds that live in his area to help him farm, it doesn't seem as negligible. This is the power of digital stories, the ability to personalise and get a window into a life, and understand why these changes are much larger than we imagine them to be.

I think the documentary did an excellent job of conveying how destructive mining can be for communities and how connected to the Earth so many people are. It doesn't only displace people physically but also spiritually. Throughout the documentary, I picked up on the fact that all the people portrayed here had deep connections to the places that they lived in. The preserve culture, provide independence and create spaces for community

There was definitely a theme of anti colonialism and capitalist resistance. Throughout all the stories, the indigenous people were offered something that within the frame of capitalism seemed "productive" like jobs, money or even relocation. The most egregious offer in my opinion was the farmers in Mexico paid $53 for 30 year lease on their land for wind turbines. I noticed that land and the relationship with ancestral land was tied to Independence and the ability for these communities to support themselves. The woman in the beginning of the documentary was farming a few sheep within the Navajo nation as a form of resistance. The exploitation of this land made it so that people could no longer herd animals on the same scale as their ancestors. One quote that really stood out to me on how land is tied to independence, and self sustenance came from a meeting with Cerrejón and a community member of Tabaco named Rogelio Ustate.

“We were a community of producers. Today we’re consumers. Consumers because of eviction, because of forced eviction”. Colonialism in my experience moulds the mind to see people living distinctly from individualistic and often western standards as disenfranchised groups. Technological “progress” is seen as a saving grace. When in reality, we are often displacing people from lives they love and adore. Separating them from lives that countless generations have moulded to exist in harmony.

Finally, I think the importance of community is highlighted in this documentary. We see a theme of people coming together to resist against exploitation, coming together to work on a plan or to find new meaning in the aftermath. It was extremely moving to see things happen, and people come together within this documentary, more often than not the viewer is left with no conclusion. I'm not sure if there was an explicit call to action, but there was hope in me as I finished this documentary.

Poletti, A. (2011). Coaxing an intimate public: Life narrative in digital storytelling. Continuum, 25(1), 73–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2010.506672

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