93 minutes / Color
English; Spanish / English subtitles
Release: 2013
Copyright: 2011
Toward the end of the 19th century, 25 people from four different Chilean indigenous groups were kidnapped from Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia by a German businessman and taken to Europe to be exhibited as attractions in cities throughout the continent. THE HUMAN ZOO uncovers the history of this colonial spectacle, and follows the fallout into the present.
With Chilean historian Christian Baez, director Hans Mulchi contacts these native people's descendents, and traces their voyage from South America across Europe, paying particular attention to the fate of Calafate, a Selk'nam boy who was taken when he just 9 years old, and survived to return to his native land.
Others were not so lucky. The filmmakers discover a collection of skeletons of five Kawesqar people in the archives of the Anthropology Department at the University of Zurich, and with help from the Swiss researchers, begin the process of repatriation to Chile.
Their efforts-and those of the Kawesqar descendents-reveal not only the persisting legacy of colonial oppression, but also the fissures that still separate indigenous Chilean communities from their national government.
“Tells the story of 25 people from Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia who were kidnapped [and] goes beyond scientific racism to focus on the repatriation struggles of Indigenous people who attempted to secure and rebury their ancesotors. ['The Human Zoo'] makes clear the ongoing trauma of racism.” —Professor Susan Sleeper Smith, Director of the Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies, Michigan State
"Recommended! Of interest to anthropology departments with focus on ethnographic studies and the rights of indigenous populations. It will also be useful for discussions of racism, South American history, and social Darwinism." —Christopher Lewis, Emerican University, in Educational Media Reviews Online (EMRO)
"A film that reflects on the paradoxes of culture, indigenous peoples and science." —Carla Olivares H., El Agente
"Passionate, committed; a tremendous history." —Ascanio Cavallo, El Mercurio
"The film tells the tale of these people, locates their remains, and asks, "How do Chileans today look at such images, and do they have any responsibility for them? It is an important document not only about the past but about cultural survival and social justice." —Jack David Elder, Anthropology Review Database
“Tells the story of 25 people from Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia who were kidnapped; goes beyond scientific racism to focus on the repatriation struggles of Indigenous people who attempted to secure and rebury their ancesotors. ['The Human Zoo'] makes clear the ongoing trauma of racism.” —Susan Sleeper Smith, Department of History at Michigan State and the Director of the Center for American Indian and Indiginous Studies, in the journal Films for the Feminist Classroom
“Detailed and thoroughly researched... viewers will have a great deal to ponder and discuss.” —National Science Teachers Association Recommends (NSTA Recommends)
Select Accolades
Kidnapped from South Africa in 1810 and "exhibited" around Great Britain, Sara Baartman was treated as a scientific curiosity.
Zola Maseko | 1999 | 53 minutes | Color | English
After years of unsettling negotiation with France, South Africa finally welcomes home the remains of Sara Baartman in an historic event of repatriation.
Zola Maseko | 2003 | 55 minutes | Color | English
A voyage deep into the Amazon to explore the implications of Brazil's policy on uncontacted indigenous tribes.
Silvio Da-Rin | 2012 | 87 minutes | Color | English subtitles
