Review: 'Xingu' shares history behind tribal preserve in Brazil

A gripping account of a collision of cultures, “Xingu” tells the inspiring true story of the three Villas Bôas brothers, who became the leading advocates for Brazil’s Amazonian Indians, an effort that culminated in the founding of a mammoth tribal preserve.

Directed by Cao Hamburger, “Xingu” begins in 1943, when the brothers — Orlando (Felipe Camarago), Cláudio (João Miguel) and Leonardo (Caio Blat) — sign up for Brazil’s March to the West, an expedition to explore and open the interior for development. Smitten by the land’s raw beauty, they are also fascinated by the indigenous people there.

Orlando, the eldest and a natural politician, defuses the tensions when they meet the Xavante, who have not seen white men before. When a flu epidemic kills half the tribe, the brothers vow to protect the natives from the forces of civilization that they represent. “We are the poison,” Cláudio says, “and the antidote.”