Claude Levi-Strauss: Return to the Amazon
Director Marcelo Fortaleza Flores
Countries France
Duration 71 min
Synopsis
Claude Lévi-Strauss, the father of structuralism, was one of the best-known intellectuals in the world. This film centres upon the moments marking the development of his career. At the eve of his centenary in November 2008, Lévi-Strauss remembers his journey to Brazil. In 1938, he organized a daring expedition to an isolated part of the Amazon. The anthropologist narrates this adventure in his best seller, Tristes Tropiques. In several interviews conceded to Marcelo Fortaleza Flores in 2005, Lévi-Strauss wonders about his experiences in the Amazon frontier. It was the encounter with the Nambikwara, a little known episode, which left its mark on him. But the Nambikwara also reveal their own recollection of the encounter. This film casts a new light on the trajectory of one the world’s greatest thinkers who still remembered a fascinating indigenous society he once lived with.
Claude Lévi-Strauss, the father of structuralism, was one of the best-known intellectuals in the world. This film centres upon the moments marking the development of his career. At the eve of his centenary in November 2008, Lévi-Strauss remembers his journey to Brazil. In 1938, he organized a daring expedition to an isolated part of the Amazon. The anthropologist narrates this adventure in his best seller, Tristes Tropiques. In several interviews conceded to Marcelo Fortaleza Flores in 2005, Lévi-Strauss wonders about his experiences in the Amazon frontier. It was the encounter with the Nambikwara, a little known episode, which left its mark on him. But the Nambikwara also reveal their own recollection of the encounter. This film casts a new light on the trajectory of one the world’s greatest thinkers who still remembered a fascinating indigenous society he once lived with.