‘Transamazonia’ Review: Amazon Setting Enhances Story of a Faith Healer’s Doubts

Rebecca Byrne, the teenage protagonist of “Transamazonia,” possesses an ethereal quality that reflects her extraordinary origin. As a young girl, she survived a plane crash in the heart of the Amazon, becoming the sole survivor of the incident.

Known as a miracle child by the media, Rebecca has since become a Christian faith healer in the rainforest, where her miraculous abilities remain shrouded in mystery. Helena Zengel’s compelling and enigmatic portrayal keeps us questioning whether Rebecca’s miracles are genuine or merely part of her image.

This central mystery drives the narrative of Pia Marais’s thought-provoking environmental fable, which explores the impact of religious missions and industrial deforestation on Indigenous identity.

Premiering in Locarno’s main competition and slated for the New York Film Festival, Marais’s film is a robust and contemplative entry in her career. Despite being set in Brazil, Marais’s film avoids exoticizing the region, collaborating with the Assurini people of the Trocará Indigenous Territory as associate producers.

However, the film’s characterization remains opaque, which may distance viewers emotionally despite its intellectual engagement. Rebecca’s life in the Amazon is shared with her American missionary father, Lawrence (Jeremy Xido), who sees the crash site as a spiritual calling.

He runs an evangelical mission from an old Baptist camp, using Rebecca’s supposed healing powers as a centerpiece of his flamboyant sermons. Despite her father’s theatrics, Rebecca, portrayed by Zengel, seems uncertain about her abilities and is still grappling with trauma and gaps in her knowledge about her family.

As tensions rise between loggers and local tribes over illegal deforestation, logging company head Alves (Rômulo Braga) seeks Rebecca’s help for his comatose wife, promising to halt his operations if she succeeds. This situation highlights the Byrnes’ precarious position as both outsiders and supposed allies, questioning whether their mission serves or exploits them.

“Transamazonia” emerges as a modern neo-western, with the lush, overwhelming forest serving as a battleground for competing claims of ownership and rights. The film presents a measured perspective on the conflict, with the Church’s role remaining ambiguous.

Despite its somewhat distant portrayal of its characters, “Transamazonia” excels as a sensory experience, immersing viewers in its vibrant, rain-soaked world and the moral dilemmas it presents. For Lawrence, the Amazon represents a chance for reinvention, while for Rebecca, leaving it may symbolize a personal rebirth.