Un Brésil brûlant de soif, où la survie devient une légende.
Abonnez-vous 👉 http://bit.ly/3bPSOBz 🙏
00:00 – Sertão : la sécheresse du Brésil de l’eau
04:30 – Lampião : le Robin des Bois du Nordeste
09:00 – La Caatinga : végétation d’épines et de survie
15:00 – Familles et bêtes : l’instinct de vivre
19:30 – Vaqueiros : cowboys du désert brésilien
25:00 – L’eau invisible : la nappe prisonnière du granite
34:50 – L’ère Lampião : entre mythe et rébellion
40:00 – Promesses et luttes du Nordeste oublié
46:00 – Poésie, foi et mémoire du Sertão
Le Brésil est réputé pour être le pays le plus riche en eau de la planète. Pourtant, le Nordeste souffre d’une sécheresse chronique. Le Sertao, plus particulièrement, est une région cruelle, recouverte par la caatinga, une végétation d’épineux dans laquelle on ne peut élever que quelques bêtes.
C’est ici qu’est né et a sévi Lampion, le plus célèbre des bandits brésiliens, qui volait aux riches exploitants pour redistribuer une partie de son butin aux plus démunis. Sa légende est controversée, mais il est considéré comme le pur produit de cet environnement hostile.
Pour prolonger le voyage, découvrez la playlist dédiée aux peuples du monde 👉 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKBF7Zz-58fWNsviS3rQjLDkmJBVj4zXy
Titre : Le Brésil de la soif
Réalisateur : Pierre Meynadier
©AMP
#Brésil #Nordeste #Sertão #Caatinga #riodejaneiro #Documentaire #Culture #Société #peuple
Brazil is one of the countries in the world
where water is most abundant. It falls from the sky,
flows through thousands of kilometers of rivers
and lies underground in aquifers as vast as continents. All forms of life thrive and this country, 16 times the size of France,
is home to an exuberant biodiversity that amazes scientists
worldwide, across all specialties. But far from the tourist clichés
and the opulent green of the Amazon, Northeast Brazil
experiences a different reality. In the serpent,
the clouds are merely passing by. It almost never rains. Everything that lives here has had to submit
to the cruel tyranny of this drought, which has significantly influenced
the history and development of the country. This climatic anomaly is a problem
that Brazil has always struggled against without ever having managed
to find real solutions. Nobody has made a fortune here. We simply struggle against
the onslaught of the sun that burns everything and organize life with what
nature has granted, essentially dry land. Those who were born here all dreamed
of leaving, and many did. When day breaks, it is the old people who come out of the mud-brick houses. The youngest have gone to where it rains
and where thirst is nothing but a bad dream. Although Brazil is one of the
world’s leading cattle producers, here, there is no question
of thinking about livestock farming. The only animals capable of thriving
in this arid environment are goats and sheep. But some of them are
proud and don’t like to give up. This land is a bit like a challenge, and yet we
still want to see some advantages in it. Everything is fine. For me, everything is fine. Working the land the way
we were taught is fine. For the countryside, for running around
the cows in the katinga, it’s still okay. Those are the good things I see
. We must take good care of the little
we have to guarantee tomorrow. See if we can sell an animal
and make some money. The snake and the hardship of living
that it imposed have considerably influenced these inhabitants,
the relationships they have forged with each other and especially the relationships that the peasants
have maintained with the large landowners who monopolized
resources and exploited cheap labor. It was in these landscapes that
one of the most iconic heroes in Brazilian history was born. His name was Virgulino Ferreira da Silva,
but the flashes that came from his rifle quickly inspired his contemporaries
who nicknamed him Lampion. It was in the 1920s. My name is Virgoulino,
nicknamed Lampion. I am a cangace,
recognized throughout the snake family. I face my enemies and I fear
no danger when I have my weapon in my hand. My pacifier was the rifle
and the cartridge belt. Milk is like a lead bullet,
fast and deadly. Let he who thinks himself strong come and
feel the sword of Virgulino Fereira. In Portuguese, the word serpent is derived from grand désert (great desert). At the end of the 19th century,
it had already been the scene of a revolt that history has remembered as the war
at the end of the world, to better accentuate the dichotomy
that reigns between the two Brazils, the one where it rains and the one where it does not rain. All Brazilian governments have
tackled the problems of the Northeast and the Sertan.
Loulà. When he came to power in 2002,
Lula immediately took steps to ensure that the poorest people
were supplied with water. A monumental task has been undertaken,
aimed at organizing short supply chains from storage facilities scattered
throughout this thorny vegetation known as the caatinga. When you know that the water needs
of a family of four can reach more than 1,000 liters
per week, you better understand the scale of the task. In Lampion’s time, the
public authorities were not so generous. And the man who is often presented
as the Robin Hood of Brazil brought behind him all those
who wanted to improve their lot. Their enemies quickly became
the federal police, whom they called the CACs. The colorful attire of
Lampion’s bandits further frightened these enemies, for around their necks
hung the oaks and necklaces they stole from their victims. I want a man every five meters. You go to the left. I’ll go in front
and Antonio Ferreira will go in behind. The macaques roaming around here will
find themselves surrounded. So, we position ourselves here, we position ourselves here. We stand there, we stand there. We’ll sit here.
We’ll sit here. We’ll sit here.
We’ll sit here. We’ll sit here. The
Sertan spans eight northeastern states and covers an area of one million
square kilometers, or one-eighth of the country’s territory. It
begins as soon as you leave the coast and moves westward,
inland. The drought then begins to take hold
and in the caatinga, which refers to a kind of steppe covered with shrubs that try
to live at all costs, the grass that grows is insufficient
for the herds. However, some livestock is raised,
and the Kauarou market is an essential meeting place for the horse traders of Father Nambouk. Three times a week,
this is where the animals are exchanged, and the term exchange is not an exaggeration,
because little money circulates here. The men who work for the large
landowners are here to hire out their services, which requires above all
owning a good horse, the indispensable tool for economic survival. A large part of the market is
therefore devoted to their trading. And it is said that this is where you can find
the most robust accessories in the country. This robustness is not a luxury. Although the snake is known for its
dryness, the vegetation that has managed to colonize it has presented many challenges
to men, especially those who are paid to go and fetch the cows
inside the small forests of the Caatinga. In popular language,
the general term katinga, which comes from the poor Indians,
simply meant that the land was bare due to lack of
water and spaced-out trees. It is a territory whose
geographical boundaries have changed over time, as if this region were
constantly being built and developed. Some also
mean inner earth. The
word is so imprecise that some dictionaries define it
as simply a distant land. For a long time, these
territorial boundaries were very vague. The serpent was like the inverted double
of the flourishing coastal region of the Northeast, an arid, sparsely populated area
weighed down by misery and drought, plagued by violence,
banditry, injustice, and religious fanaticism. Another world with different codes,
without a voice of communication, cut off from civilization. I thought about leaving, but with my
advanced age, it’s no longer worth it. If I were a 20-year-old man,
I wouldn’t be living here anymore. I would have disappeared. I would be in a region that helps
men move forward. Some authors claim that in this closed territory, it is preserving a vanished world where customs
and a language dating back to the 16th century survive. In the portraits drawn of it,
the snake therefore has a dual identity as a backward region with an archaic culture
and at the same time as a living memory, a kind of archaeological framework
of Brazilian society, according to the expression of some intellectuals. The snake is both a
geographical space, a territory perceived as impassable,
but also an imaginary place that has been constructed over the centuries
according to the perspectives on it. The meager work of the land
and livestock farming, which remain the main
economic activities of the region, impose on men,
as well as on animals and plants, a powerful instinct for survival in the face
of an unstable daily life and an aggressive environment
which make both groupings and relationships
of dependence between individuals necessary. The family, in both the strict and
broad senses, plays an essential role here. What I prefer
is putting my saddle on my horse and setting off after a forest ox. If I want to, I’ll run. Otherwise, I watch,
but that’s what I prefer. When I was young,
I could have chosen a better life, run a business
or something like that. But I was working, and that’s all I
was doing, working. Today, I continue. I raised all my sons. Sometimes they tell me: Stop,
Dad, don’t work anymore. I am already old,
I no longer need to work, but I do it because I want to go out. I told them that if I didn’t work,
there would be no point in them coming to my house because I
wouldn’t be able to afford to host them. The katinga shows
no mercy to men. The animals have learned to feed themselves
as best they can in this hostile vegetation and against all odds,
this diet suits them very well. The whole difficulty lies
in locating them in this tangle of branches and cacti
which constitute their refuge from the scorching sun and the appetite of men. That’s not what I
wanted to be happy. I don’t like to tell my
painful story, nor the suffering on my face,
my hopeless soul, my bleeding heart deep in my chest. When I remember, sir,
the time when I was innocent, when I shouted in the forests of my
certain smiling one, I feel sad. My heart dwells on this passion,
beats faster, and weeps bitterly. A character as exceptional as Lampion can only be understood in relation
to the place of his origins, his life and his epic journey. This region, so particular
with its own geographical, socioeconomic,
historical and political characteristics, which are not foreign to the genesis
of phenomena such as Kanga, as this form
of banditry imbued with a certain poetry has been named. A poetry with which the people here
have armed themselves to beautify their lot. There is a song by Luis Gonzaga that we used to listen to
and still listen to. When the mandacarou blooms, it
means the rain is coming. When the mandacarou flowers during
the drought, it means that it will rain in that certain year. This is one of the signs that rain is coming. I remember when I was a child,
my parents used to say: Mandacarous are full of flowers. The rain is coming, it’s coming. And shortly afterwards, she arrives. It thunders and she arrives. The
snake has often been referred to as the quadrilateral of the end
or the polygon of drought. A hostile territory that contrasts
sharply with the generous and welcoming landscape of the Northeast coastline. A territory often devastated
by periods of drought that can last for several years and are
sometimes followed by equally devastating torrential rains. But they are rather rare. The Ampion and his men lived
mainly in the Cerrados, areas where the clay soil retains
moisture better and where it is possible to grow some plants,
mainly cacti, with sufficient nutritional qualities
to feed some goats and some families. Between the more or less green trees,
grasses grow which form excellent pasture for livestock
which even graze on the lower leaves of the shrubs. In the cerrados fechados,
which refers to denser vegetation, the closer trees could
allow the bandit to hide. The vaqueros, the local cowboys,
work as a team. Each group rents itself to breeders
and their reputation precedes them. For them, capturing cattle is
a true way of life and constitutes a constant danger because it is practiced
amidst thorns that are sometimes long and sharp like daggers. I wear leather clothes
because that’s what I prefer. I wear practically nothing else, from the
car to the city, on all occasions. You have to wear this, otherwise you
could break your bones. Then you die. This is not a game. It’s dangerous for young people. The old folks don’t even talk about it. This is no joke. It’s difficult. I grew up watching my
father chase after cattle. The first few times,
I found it difficult. I even thought I would never learn
to chase after an ox. I got used to it and I’ve
continued to do so to this day. I like caetinga. And one of my
favorite things is my horse. I worked for something. I raised seven children and it’s a life
built on values to chase after the Blues. I also did some track cycling,
but I didn’t like it. The forest is more like me. All my life, I’ve loved it. The political and social organization
of Sertan is structured around the Fassenderos, owners of their land. Around the central core constituted by the Fassenderos family,
other family cells gravitate towards it, linked by ties
of subordination or mutual services and dues. A hierarchy is established
between the Fassan Dehrault, who owns the cattle and
often holds political power, the vaqueiro, responsible for the cattle who himself owns
a few animals, and the morador, linked to the owner by a simple
oral contract, to whom the façade of Hérau allows to cultivate a piece of land
in exchange for certain royalties or services, and who, in a certain way, belongs to him body and soul. Nothing has really changed since the time
of Lampion, who fought precisely against the disparities in wealth which he
considered to be injustices. Sergio Beck is one of Brazil’s top horse specialists. He wanted to understand the conditions
in which the small sertanejo horse lives , which accompanies the history
of men and the region. Incredibly,
these horses never seem to suffer any injuries
despite spending their lives galloping among the thorns. Philippe Dantas, on the other hand, was born here. He
is in charge of tourism development in the region and works at the
Pernambuco State Government headquarters. He knows Sertan and Katinga well,
whose future is a real political issue for the State
and for Brazil itself. Felipe,
we hear. We can say that Katinga is a cursed region
where adversity reigns. Yet it is a biotope unique in the world. Can you tell me a little more? 80% of the Caprin park and 70% of the Auvin park
are located in the Northeast-Dry. It is this adaptability and potential
that allows us to understand the biological and cultural value
that we possess. Adversity is much stronger than
all of us, but we make the necessary efforts
to live with those around us. It’s a new form of wealth for a more united world,
but we’re getting there. The institutions are working on it. They create an identity for this
people of the Northeast, of the dry Northeast. I’m going to show you what you
need to know about the land here. It is possible to find drinking water when you are far from home. It’s flowing. She’s not cursed, no. It is not well understood. It even hosts a large
part of the Brazilian biotope. What exists here in terms of animals
and plants exists only here. Because of all this,
we still don’t understand that the region is not cursed. In truth, the snake is full of hope,
as Guimaraes Rosa, a great connoisseur of snakes, said. The snake is a great hope,
but we need time to clarify our ideas
and understand this adversity and heterogeneity. So, what do we do with that? Is this the ring, here? Is that a monkey’s ear? That’s it, a monkey’s ear. This pod contains enough
food for both animals and humans. Are we taking advantage of the seed? It has several uses. It brings good luck when you put it
in your pocket on New Year’s Day. And it’s very good for us
and for the animals. In this subsoil that we walk upon,
there is the largest reserve of drinking water on the planet. But we want to break through directly here. There is a layer of granite
that prevents drilling. Today, as yesterday and as tomorrow,
the rain will not come. Like most of the inhabitants of the certain,
Captain Marie does not know the comfort of a tap that one turns on. Every day, we often have to travel
many kilometers to get supplies. And life has organized itself
around a few resurgences. Emerging from the depths where, as if in a
cruel twist of fate, this gigantic
reserve of water lies concentrated in the aquifer fed by the
hydrographic network of the Amazon. The problem is that this water is
trapped under layers of granite that are impossible to penetrate, which makes it impossible
to draw from it in the short term. The lack of water has driven
entire generations of North Destin away, drawn by the promises of big
cities where anything is better than watching crops die in the fields. We bought a well here 10 years ago. And that allowed us to get some water. We drilled three wells in the area,
but we didn’t find a drop. I still have my three forests
and I’ve never found anything. So, we let the animals go so they
can fend for themselves without us needing to go and find them
their own water to feed them. That wouldn’t be possible. That’s why I say
it’s a cruel place. If there were water in abundance,
it would be a different life. But that’s certain. It’s cruel here. A few inhabitants have the immense privilege
of owning a few hundred square meters of clay, capable of retaining water
and forming ponds in which everyone can replenish their supplies for free. The only price to pay is
the distance to travel. Marylaine makes the journey twice
a day and she lives two kilometers away. The snake is cruel,
the snake is merciless. Only the sons of this place can
know how cruel he is. And
those who know the south and the regions where life is good, with a
light heart, without suffering. The snake is cruel. The man lives there, but he is cruel. We spend our time working,
clearing stones, burning under the sun. There are no bourgeois things,
no shadows, no holidays. No. Every day, you have to
roll up your sleeves. Their environment initially
sparked men’s anger. This anger turned into revolt
and was then turned against those who were designated as responsible
for all this misery. The Gaso camp movement
originated in the 1870s. It was long a source of pride for the northeast. Lampion, who formed his band in the mid-
1920s, was its direct heir. However, he is not always considered a hero in the rest of Brazil. They looted, stole,
and killed without restraint. Lampion exterminated everyone who wore
the uniform of the colonels’ police, as they called here the
farmer thugs who bought themselves the rank. He sailed between four states
and the military was powerless to contain his campaigns. He robbed and ransomed the rich,
sometimes redistributing part of his fortunes to the poorest. That’s how he built his legend. Nairena’s daughter tried to leave
for São Paulo, like most young people in the region. But another kind of misery
awaited him there: overpopulation,
unemployment, and the favelas where those who
arrived with only their dreams end up. So,
she preferred to return and be content with what nature provides through frugality. The family’s main income
comes from harvesting coquignoss, coconuts that the lack of water has
forced to remain tiny if they are to exist. A few trees manage to grow
around the house and the whole family devotes itself to exploiting
this meager resource. Donna and Rena, for their part,
intervene at the last stage which consists of threading the nuts onto a
nylon thread to make necklaces which will be sold in the surrounding villages
as treats for children. Donna and Rena possess
unparalleled expertise. She has been stringing knots all her life,
and this craft allowed the family to remain here when exile
emptied the surrounding houses. Of course, the income they provide
is minimal and barely enough to earn enough to afford the necessities. But here, it’s already a great privilege. Donna Irina sometimes regrets
not having had the courage to try her luck herself,
but ultimately, she is quite happy. Its roots are deeply
anchored in this arid soil. And that, perhaps, is the most important thing. To make people forget that it is not very generous in the plains,
nature has sculpted tortured landscapes on the mountains ,
from which emerge granite colossi that men wanted to place
on their side to better address God. The serpent is imbued with mysticism. They erected statues to the glory
of all the saints in heaven, as if to convince them not to go
too far in the trials they impose on them. They even created some sometimes. The Some Nejos venerate
Antonio Conceliero, who, after establishing collective work,
defended the inhabitants against the Army of the First Republic, proclaimed in 1889. The stone giants bear the same
symbols that Lampion and his men displayed on their uniforms. It’s no longer possible to say who copied whom. Life in Katinga is difficult. Raising my family solely on
Katinga was very difficult. There was no choice. I’ve always had to fend for myself,
share a cow with the neighbor, make do. There are no large
farms here, it’s very hard. There is no future. This unique land in northeastern
Brazil carries strong values and symbols of this country,
destined to become future economic giants of our world. Brazil was built on the violence
of greedy conquerors who came as predators without any
desire to build a real future. It has developed according to the winds
of interest, going through phases directly linked to the fashion
and needs of Europe. They successively searched for gold,
planted coffee, then sugar cane. Today, there is a desire for the wealth
represented by Amazonian timber, and even more so, for the water
that is beginning to run out almost everywhere. The snake, for its part, is somewhat
the memory of all this. A region where
promises have always been made but never kept. Men try to find their
roots there and venerate those who fought to give it a true identity. Like Brazil, it has experienced
usurped property, exile, and abandonment when it was no longer
able to provide what was needed to satisfy appetites. Nomadism, the
random delimitation of its borders. The Santerres movement,
officially born in the 80s, finds its origins here, where
reference was made to Lampion and Antonio Conceliero. The Beds of Peasants were born here in
Pernambuco in the mid-1950s. Originally conceived as an
assistance society for the poorest peasantry , they quickly spread
throughout the Northeast, and then throughout the country. But it was here that
the first successful land occupations were tested. The farms are producing what they
need, however imperfectly. Without water to irrigate the fields,
intensive farming had to be abandoned and people had to make do with the bare minimum,
starting with cassava, whose flour serves as the basis of the diet. The culture of struggle and adversity
forged the character of the men of the serpent, who, having always lacked everything,
learned very early on to live in self-sufficiency. That’s how katinga is. It all depends on
your feelings for her. Running after the ox
is the most painful thing in the world, because you hurt your face, your
body, your head, your legs. And this profession is obliged to have
good feelings towards her. Your feelings are controlling you. The
Konga heroes both drew their source from and left their mark
on the serpent tradition. Like
the Bandis de Lampion did in their time , when they take a break,
the men have a habit of improvising verses in praise of their hero. (But yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
That’s how the history of the region was passed down,
a region where people have only recently learned to read and write, and where poetry
remains the primary means of communication. Lampion himself was also
a bit of a poet in his spare time. I never imagined that in life I
would have to fight so much. Rather than conflicts,
I preferred to work. But today, I am a kanga-séhro. I will face my destiny, the destinies of destinies,
until the day they kill me. Lampion and his horde devastated Miassac, traversed and dominated the thirsty Brazil for nearly 20 years, only to be brought
down by the forces of law and order on July 28, 1938. Their decapitated corpses were
transported from city to city, eventually ending up at the Institute in Salvador,
for exhibitions and scientific studies aimed at interpreting what
had driven these men. to enter into a struggle against the inevitable, precisely. One cannot understand Brazil
without knowing the history of these men, nor that of this land made of dust
and thorns whose inhabitants continue to be a formidable example for the whole
country, since they face the difficulty with weapons of
formidable effectiveness: optimism and the certainty of overcoming it.
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