Content warning: This review contains material that may be triggering. Reader discretion advised.
Not only the eye, the camera in Yarokamena (Andrés Jurado, 2022) also function as the ears. Gerardo Sueche is presented as the narrator, ready to recount the battle footsteps of Yarokamena againts the rubber exploiters in Casa Arana, Columbia. Gerardo is a member of the Indigenous People’s Council and the remaining descendant of Yarokamena. This film seems to be his medium to retell the dark legend hidden in the corner of the Amazon, Columbia.
As if peeking through a binocular, Andres Jurado brings the visual representation of a circle dramatically framing the 21-minute-long film of Yarokamena’s history in its oral archive. A various one at that, depending on the memory and storytelling power of the speaker. In the original note, “Yarokamena” means quartz tree. “Yaroka”, a quartz stone, is worn as a necklace by the war militia captain.
“Yarokamena was a personality (that) very important to this region at the time of rubber exploitation. A character who led the defence against atrocities, massacres, and rapes that happened in the region.”
According to Gerardo, Yarokamena is a heroic figure. Only Yarokamena dared to face the foreman of a Peruvian rubber extraction company in Columbia at the time. He consolidated his army and gathered weapons. Filled with bravery, he stood up to represent the aspirations of the civil society who refused to have their traditional territories touched, let alone colonised. Those outlanders even arrested, tortured, raped, and burned local residents. It was as if the angels of death had come, flocking from north of the Putumayo River, where the Peruvian company resided.
Yarokamena’s resistance had finally reached the ears of the Peruvian Amazon Company’s central authorities. They immediately deployed military forces to suppress Yarokamena. Running out of ammunition along with his militia, Yarokamena was slaughtered. Only a few managed to survive.
“The jungle shudders, and the trees are the ones who know the whole story, what has happened. But since they are not human, they do not speak. So, all the memories are collected there, and all those events that have happened have remained. The sequels are history now.”
This event was so intense that it was credited as one of the factors of the border war between Columbia and Peru in the early 20th century. Andrés Jurado feels that this tragedy needs more proper attention and recognition so that people know what really happened. Yarokamena’s struggle against the ruling power of the rubber exploitation company. This film offers a new alternative to see the territorial domination threat in the Amazon region. It also serves as a warning that the presence of rubber exploitation companies will only create chaos, even death.
“It was a very terrible massacre in the territory during those decades.”
Yarokamena (2022) is selected in Docs Docs: Short! and Perspektif Festival Film Dokumenter 2023. (Hesty N. Tyas) (Vanis/Catharina Maida M)
Film Details
Yarokamena
Andrés Jurado | 21 Minutes | 2022 | Colombia | Color & BW | 17+
Screening Schedule
12.05 | Auditorium IFI-LIP | 14.30 WIB
12.05 | Gedung ex Bioskop Permata | 17.00
12.08 | Bioskop Sonobudoyo | 13.00
12.08 | Gedung ex Bioskop Permata | 15.30
