The real-life story behind the blockbuster Avatar

In James Cameron's Avatar, an alien tribe fights to protect their home and sacred forest from human invaders seeking to destroy their distant planet. A mining company brings in former Marines to ensure security. However, war breaks out between the two sides, and genocide becomes inevitable. Set on a fictional planet of six-legged rhinos and giant flying lizards, Cameron's film depicts a struggle between corporations and the indigenous people that is hardly science fiction.

For decades, indigenous tribes around the world have faced corporations exploiting timber, oil, and gas. These corporations, like the ones in the movies, often have government backing and access to "security forces," sometimes in the form of former military personnel or state police. However, unlike the films, where the indigenous people triumph over the corporate invaders and the military, the real-life stories of indigenous tribes rarely end justly: from Peru to Malaysia to Ecuador, their struggle continues.

Spears against guns

The indigenous tribe in the film, known as the Na'vi, uses poison-tipped arrows to defend themselves against the guns, gas, and artillery fire of their human invaders. This detail is reminiscent of the June 2009 events, when violence erupted in Peru as heavily armed police clashed with indigenous protesters, some armed with spears, others unarmed.

Indigenous tribes protested against nearly 100 unjust laws passed by the Peruvian government – ​​led by President Alan Garcia – that made it easier for foreign companies to exploit oil, gas, timber, and minerals on their native land. The subsequent violent clashes resulted in the deaths of 23 police officers and at least 10 indigenous people.

Just weeks after the bloody incident, Texas-based Hunt Oil, with the full support of the Peruvian government, moved to the Amarakaeri Reserve by helicopter and heavy machinery to conduct a seismic survey. A scene not unlike Avatar unfolded, showing a corporation invading indigenous territory with ships laden with weapons.

The seismic test reshaped 300 miles of test trails, involved more than 12,000 explosions, and used 100 helicopter pads in the middle of the largely pristine and unknown Amazon rainforest. The reserve, created to protect the homes of indigenous people, could soon be transformed into an oil-stained wasteland. Indigenous tribes say Hunt Oil never asked permission to use their land.

In Avatar, the Na'vi people are portrayed as "green monkeys" and "barbarians." Both the corporation and their mercenaries consider the Na'vi to be inferior to humans. In Peru, President Alan Garcia has called the indigenous people "wild," "barbaric," "second-class citizens," "criminals," and "ignorant." Alan even compared the tribal groups to the nation's notorious terrorists.

The brutal truth

The movie Avatar ends with the native aliens successfully defending their home from invaders. In reality, there is no happy ending for native peoples in real life. Often, these conflicts last for decades, with indigenous tribes, despite their best efforts, tragically losing their homes little by little. Forests wither, biodiversity is destroyed, carbon emissions are released into the atmosphere. The tribes gradually weaken and are destroyed. Their culture, traditions, and territory vanish with the flow of history.

Avatar is one of the most outstanding blockbusters of contemporary cinema. With a production budget of approximately $300 million, this massive work by "money-making machine" James Cameron grossed $2.847 billion at the box office, comfortably sitting at the top of the list of highest-grossing films of all time.

Up to 60% of the film's visuals were created using computer-generated imagery (CGI), including everything from the scenery to the characters. This was a technological breakthrough in filmmaking, revolutionizing the 3D film genre. Avatar's success spurred the development of digital formats and pushed the 35mm film format into obsolescence.

Anh Thi