You are here:

Martyrdom

Name: Martyrdom
Director: Tatiana Almeida, Ernesto de Carvalho, Vincent Carelli
Released: 2017
Duration: 162 min

Representation Score

6.9/10

Good

2017

Director

Tatiana Almeida, Ernesto de Carvalho, Vincent Carelli

Runtime

162 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Martírio is a profound ethnographic study that replaces the colonial gaze with a longitudinal view of indigenous resistance. By utilizing forty years of archival footage, the film establishes the Guarani-Kaiowá as the central protagonists of their own history. The documentary effectively critiques the Brazilian State and the legacies of the Paraguay War. It frames the struggle for land demarcation not just as a political conflict, but as a fundamental fight for cultural and spiritual survival. While the film excels in ethnic and cultural representation, it lacks specific focus on LGBTQ+ identities or disability representation. However, its deconstruction of Western social hierarchies provides a progressive foundation for understanding non-traditional communal life.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does Martyrdom have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film does not explicitly focus on LGBTQ+ identities. However, it explores indigenous social frameworks that challenge traditional Western family models and assumptions about straight relationships.

How does Martyrdom portray gender?

Good

The narrative deconstructs the cliché of the singular male hero. Instead, it highlights the communal roles and multifaceted contributions within the Guarani-Kaiowá social structure.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Martyrdom?

Excellent

The documentary centers the Guarani-Kaiowá people, providing them extensive ability to act. It uses decades of archival footage to highlight their struggle against systemic racial and territorial injustices.

How does Martyrdom represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The film prioritizes indigenous spirituality over Western secularism. It portrays state institutions as oppressive forces that clash with the community’s communal existence.

Does Martyrdom include disability representation?

Minimal

There is no specific evidence regarding the portrayal of physical or neurodivergent disabilities within the film.

Present on Screen

Exceptional centering of the Guarani-Kaiowá people as active agents of their own narrative.
Deep longitudinal perspective provided by forty years of archival footage.
Powerful critique of state-sanctioned displacement and systemic territorial injustice.

Limited or Absent

Lack of explicit focus on LGBTQ+ identities or queer social frameworks.
No visible representation or discussion regarding physical or neurodivergent disabilities.

Official Synopsis

Waving the flag that states every film is political, Vincent Carelli visibilizes in this documentary the cause of the Guarani-Kaiowá: a group of indigenous people that fear their lands, located in the Mato Grosso do Sul, will be confiscated by the State. A territorial conflict born more than one hundred years ago, during the Paraguay war. While fighting against the Brazilian Congress in order not to be evicted from their homes, the 50.000 indigenous people demand the demarcation of the space that belongs to them. With some rigorous investigative work, the Brazilian director tells with his own voice of the social and political injustices suffered by the Guarani people through material he filmed over the course of more than forty years. The archive images, both color and black and white, reveal the crudeness with which they coexist every day: among the violation of their civil rights and the guts with which they confront the usurpers.

How are these scores produced? →