Original subtitles

Adult Steve: Some people say we live in a world

of irreconcilable differences.

Others say that true peace, lasting peace,

can't be obtained

because we haven't found a way yet to change the human heart.

[ Monkey chattering ]

I took a journey once with a warrior named mincayani

down a remote river

deep in the Amazon basin of Ecuador.

The events of that journey will challenge

what a lot of people say.

[ Woman vocalizing ]

To understand what brought us to the river on that day,

you need to know about mincayani and his people,

the waodani.

You see, our story was set in motion

before I was even born.

Mincayani was just a boy.

Mincayani had grown up in the rainforest,

living the same way the waodani people had lived

since the beginning of time.

The fierceness of the waodani tribe was legendary.

More than half of all the waodani died

from the Spears of other waodani.

And the cycle of revenge spearing

had brought them to the brink of extinction.

[ Chatters ]

[ Chattering ]

[ Rock thuds ]

[ Grunts ]

Moipa!

[ Grunts ]

[ Indistinct shouting ]

[ Air whooshes ]

[ Grunts ]

[ Baby wailing ]

[ Wailing stops ]

Dayumae!

[ Thunder crashes ]

[ Animal chatters ]

[ Creature howls ]

[ Calling ]

Dayumae! Dayumae!

[ Squawks ] Ohh!

[ Child calling ]

[ Laughter ]

[ Triumphant music plays ]

[ Indistinct conversations in Spanish ]

[ Man laughs ]

[ Bird squawks ]

[ Bird squawks ]

Ever since I was a boy,

I loved making things with my hands.

Mom and aunt Rachel have said

that dad and I were very much alike that way.

I was 8 years old when we made a model plane together.

[ Chuckles ]

That was the time when dad was first looking for the waodani.

[ Engine turns over ]

I had heard the violent stories of the waodani.

Everyone near the jungle did.

Dad said he saw their violence as a trap,

like a prison that they couldn't escape from

on their own.

He would make flights as often as he could

to try to find one of their small villages.

That was the only time I was afraid when he was flying.

I'm guessing mincayani

must have been around 20 years old

when he first saw my father's plane.

It's a guess because the waodani don't Mark time.

To this day, mincayani doesn't know his actual age.

[ Laughter ]

[ Laughter ]

[ Squawks ]

Shell, 5-6 Henry...

South section clear.

Roger that.

All right, I'm going down for a closer look.

[ Natives whooping ]

[ Whooping continues ]

[ Whooping stops ]

[ Airplane engine buzzing ]

Gikita!

[ Airplane whooshes ] [ Shouting in native language ]

C-Contact! Sector 6! Do you copy? Shell?

Roger that.

Shell -- I said contact!

Whoo!

We found them! North corner, sector 6!

Mom?

Do you copy?

Second river south of the curraray!

Mom?

Mom?!

Stevie-boy?

[ Radio tuning ]

Contact! Sector 6! Do you copy?

Um [chuckles]

Uh, contact, sector 6. Roger that.

All right. I'm goin' around.

I saw one.

I know I did.

[ Leaves crunching ]

[ Airplane engine buzzes ]

[ Jaguar snarls ]

[ Laughter ]

The days that followed were like Christmas.

Our home was kind of a base

for everyone who lived in the jungle.

[ Big-band music plays ]

Dad would fly them in and out of remote airstrips,

bringing them supplies.

But those missionaries,

the families that came to our house

to celebrate finding the waodani,

they were special.

The elliots, the mccullys,

the Flemings, and the youderians --

they were closer to us than any blood family.

And the bucket turns in an even bigger circle, so it --

of course it does --

dad, of course, was always forging ahead.

Jim, just watch me.

What we're gonna do

is we're gonna let out so much line

that the drag of that line

is gonna work with centrifugal force.

See that?

And as I keep the airplane

in that tight, continuous turn...

Oh, wow.

Look at that. Huh?

The bucket stays in almost exactly the same spot.

It hardly moves.

In theory. In theory.

In theory! [ Chuckles ]

Do you know what theory is?

Theory! [ Chuckles ]

Do you believe me? Mm-hmm.

Do you know what this means?

This is it. We --

we've made contact.

Actually, Nate, I've made some contact of my own.

I've been learning some waodani phrases from dayumae.

Oh, come on, buddy, just relax.

Look, I've been very careful about this. [ Sighs ]

Rachel knows absolutely nothing about this.

Do you realize what that means?

It means it's time to rejoin the planet.

It means that I can say, "sambua John"!

"Where's the John?" In waodani!

Uncle Jim. [ Laughs ]

Only uncle Jim.

You want to try this, son?

Shouldn't you tell Rachel?

No, I can't do that.

She understands the language better than any of us.

Betty, I tell my sister,

and she's gonna go tell her superiors.

Next, we're gonna still be talking about this in two years.

We don't have two years, Betty.

The waodani are killing...

So many people.

The government's under pressure.

They're gonna bring in troops.

We have one chance to reach these people...

Now -- this is it.

[ Jim claps hands ]

If Nate's bucket drop really works,

he thinks he can find a place on the river

to put the plane down -- maybe a sandbar.

Hey! [ Laughs ] We'll call it palm beach!

Betty: Jim.

Oh, come on!

[ Imitates monkey chattering ]

Play Tarzan -- sleep in tree house. Eat grubs.

[ Imitates monkey chattering ]

Olive: Jim!

This is not a picnic.

No one's ever made contact with these people

and lived to talk about it!

Honey, we'll have our guns.

If it comes to it, we'll shoot in the air.

The Indians always run from guns.

They always run, olive.

And what if they don't run?

[ Tribal drums beating ]

[ Airplane engine buzzing ]

Nate: It looks like they're home!

Jim: Oh, yeah!

Are you sure this'll work?

Do you know what theory is?!

I know what idiot is!

Let's go! Bucket time!

Copy that! [ Claps ]

Whoo!

Vaya con dios!

Whoo! Ha ha!

Here we go!

Whoa, steady there, boy!

You're shaking my breakfast!

Don't throw up on the waodani!

Pe-a ata panua dayumae!

That was incredible!

The guys are never gonna believe it!

This is fantastic!

Whoo! Whoo!

Aunt Rachel lived in a remote quechua village

that bordered waodani territory.

She was 12 years older than dad and helped raise him.

I knew dad was protecting her

by keeping the waodani contact a secret.

I just wanted someone to protect dad. [ Radio tuning ]

Steve: Ila, ila, shell calling ila, over.

Ila, this is shell, over.

Rachel: Stevie!

What a wonderful surprise!

How are you?

Oh, I'm good, aunt Rachel. I'm good.

But I'm preparing a little surprise for mom,

and I need some help.

A surprise? Sounds great. Fire away.

Well, mom wanted dad to speak

at least one line of native dialect properly,

but now he's driving her nuts.

Hey, don't be so hard on him.

His quechua's not th bad.

No, not quechua. Waodani.

Waodani? Why?

Well, because he wants to be able to greet dayumae...

Next time she comes.

All right, what do you have in mind?

Something simple, like...

"I'm your friend."

So, you want "I'm your friend" in wao?

"Your sincere friend."

Well, that's an easy one.

Just repeat this after dayumae.

Hi, dayumae!

Hello...

Stevie.

We say, "bua..."

"Bua..."

"Bea..."

"Bea..."

"Unumbua."

"Unumbua."

Bua, bea, enumbua!

Bea bua.

Moipa?

[ Air whooshes, thwack! ]

[ Grunts ]

Aah!

[ Shouting in native language ]

[ Cooing ]

Ah! Ow! [ Grunts ]

[ Airplane engine buzzes ]

[ Squawks ]

Ah!

[ Laughs ]

[ Squawking ]

[ Airplane engine buzzing ]

Oh!

They give us somethin'?

Yeah.

You're kidding me.

Oh! Oh!

Must be a very special bird.

Here we go!

Whoo!

[ Tribal music playing ]

Ugh!

[ Speaking native language ]

There's something going on down there!

[ Speaking native language ]

[ Slam! ] Whoa!

Cut the line, Jim!

[ Speaking native language ]

Any time, buddy!

[ Laughter ]

Stevie-boy, lunch!

Honey, your daddy won't be back for hours!

I'm not hungry!

I knew we had a small runway.

I tried to imagine dad landing on the river sandbar

he had found near the waodani village.

I told him I wished I could be there with him.

He said, "don't worry.

You will be."

Come on!

[ Dramatic music swells ]

Whoo!

Whoo! [ Laughs ]

[ Laughing ]

[ Nate grunts ]

Want to go to mama? Go to mama?

Little rocks in your hand?

Mm!

Oh, my little girl.

Be good, hmm?

[ Chuckles ]

Son, you know I can leave that here.

Just say the word.

No?

Good boy.

Get it in the airplane.

I guess that's it.

[ Nate grunts ]

[ Exhales ]

Uh...

Do you know how far away the sun is?

93 million miles.

Do you know that that's a fraction...

Of how much your daddy loves you?

If the waodani attack, will you defend yourself?

Will you use your guns?

Son, we can't shoot the waodani.

They're not ready for heaven.

We are.

Then promise me one thing. Just one.

"One thing."

You sound like your mother.

If you get in a jam -- a real jam --

then promise me you'll say these words to them.

What words?

They're waodani words.

[ Voice breaking ] They mean, "I am your friend.

Your sincere friend."

"Bua, bea, enumbua."

Bua...

Bea...

Enum--

"enumbua." enumbua.

Bua, bea, enumbua.

Right?

Yeah.

Okay.

Come here.

Got everything, then?

Let's see -- one, two, three, four --

that's good.

[ Chuckles ]

Mm.

Come back to me.

Hey.

All right?

See you on the radio.

Stevie, be a good boy.

[ Engine sputters ]

[ Engine turns over ]

I love you, dad!

I love you.

[ Woman singing opera on tape player ]

[ Shouting in foreign language ]

[ Woman singing opera on tape player continues ]

Roger, what do you think?

With all this preaching to the jungle,

how long before the monkeys get saved?

Yeah, well, at least if they do,

we'll know someone's listening.

[ Chattering ]

[ Singing continues ]

[ Singing continues ]

Gentlemen!

We got company.

[ Singing continues ]

Ed. My name is ed.

What is your name?

Maybe her name is really, really long.

[ Laughs ]

[ Laughing ]

[ Pop! ]

All right, I...I don't...

I don't know --

Roger: He wants somethin'.

Jim: Nate! Nate! The gun!

Uh...

Yeah, okay, all right. Yeah, airplane, airplane.

Whoa.

[ Laughs ]

Yeah, I -- that's what you want?

I guess we're gonna go for a ride.

[ Shouting in native language ]

[ Airplane whooshes ]

No, no, no!

[ Laughter ]

Yeah!

Nate: Hey, Jim!

He tried to get out of the airplane

right above the village.

They saw him. They know we're friendly.

[ Cheering ]

Thank you. Praise god! Thank you!

Uh, we don't understand.

You go up?

Up?

Pete, come here.

Pete: I don't know.

Uh, I can check my notes.

She -- they speak so fast.

Nate: I guess it's supper time.

She just proposed to you, Roger.

[ All shouting ]

Here. Don't drink it all.

What are you trying to say, petey?

Missionaries.

What?

Oh.

[ Man laughs ]

[ Speaking waodani ]

[ Yelling ]

[ Grunts ]

[ Groans ]

[ Gunshots ]

[ Yelling ]

No!!!

Roger: Come in, shell! Come in!

Shell, come in!

Come in, shell!

[ Woman vocalizing ]

[ Groans ]

Bua bea...

...enumbua.

Bue bea

enumbua.

[ Thunder rumbles ]

[ Woman vocalizing ]

[ Thunder rumbles ]

[ Thunder rumbles ]

[ Weapon plunges ]

[ Woman vocalizing ]

[ Thunder rumbles ]

Steve: 56 Henry?

This is shell.

56 Henry.

This is shell.

Dad! This is Steve.

Are you okay?

[ Static crackles ]

You missed your call time.

Tell the owner of the parrot I'm taking good care of it.

And I know it's a loan, okay?

Okay, mom wants to talk now. So please pick up.

Please, dad...

[ All shouting ]

[ Shouting continues ]

[ Thunder crashes ]

[ Bird chirping ]

[ Helicopter engine buzzes ]

[ Exhales ]

Marj: Rachel, it was so hard for Nate not to tell you.

So far we've found four of 'em...

[ Sobs ]

...Jim, Roger, Pete.

What about ed?

Frank: The quechuas told me

that they found him in the water at the edge of the beach.

And by the time we got there,

the water had come up and had carried him away.

Marilou, I wanted so badly to go get him.

[ Crying ] Then there's still a chance?

No, ma'am.

The quechuas positively identified him.

They even took his wristwatch to prove it was him.

[ Sobbing ]

And Nate?

We found Nate...

[ Sobbing ]

...in the river right near palm beach.

[ Shouting in native language ]

[ Shouting ]

[ Grunts ]

[ Shouts ]

[ Screaming ]

[ Sobbing ]

[ Arguing in native language ]

[ Speaking native language ]

I'm not your friend anymore!

I'm not anybody's friend anymore!

[ Rock thumps ]

[ Dog whimpers ]

Bua bea enumbua, Steve Saint.

It didn't work.

Don't judge that too quickly.

You know, hurting the dog won't help.

Come here.

[ Film projector whirring ]

[ Laughs ]

[ Laughter ]

[ Woman vocalizing ]

Gimade.

Gimade! Gimade!

Maengamo! Maengamo! Maengamo!

Dayumae, dayumae...

No, this my family!

But...

My family...

Kill your family.

I'm sorry.

Oh, no.

[ Crying ] Sorry.

Dayumae was never the same after that day. It's okay.

The cycle of violence that her family had lived in

had come around to catch her again.

She began to talk about returning to her tribe

so that they would know that not all foreigners kill.

It wasn't very long before her family

provided her the opportunity.

Her sister gimade and mother akawo

were still looking for her.

[ Indistinct shouting ]

And now they were desperate enough

to take their chances with the foreigners,

just as she had done years before.

[ Dogs barking ]

[ Clatter ]

[ Dogs barking, men shouting in Spanish ]

[ Gunshot ]

[ Shouting in Spanish ]

[ Gunshot ]

[ Dogs barking ]

[ Barking continues ]

If gimade and akawo had not been women,

they would have been killed.

So, dayumae believed that women going to her family

might be shown the same mercy.

Gracias, Juan.

[ Shouting in native language ]

I don't like this, mommy.

It's just a game, honey, to see who can touch the most.

[ Natives hooting ]

[ Laughter ]

[ Laughing ]

[ Natives hooting ]

[ Shouts ]

[ Grunting ]

[ Thunder crashes ]

[ Shouts ]

[ Thunder crashing ]

[ Thunder crashes ]

[ Speaking native language ]

[ Children laughing ]

Muchas gracias, señors.

[ Light laughter ]

[ Laughing ]

Marj...

Kathy, and Stevie.

Bea buca?

[ Natives hooting ]

[ Laughs ]

That's boiled plantain mash and water.

Oh, I have so many stories

about when I first came to visit aunt Rachel

and the waodani.

Let's just say there are some things you never forget.

[ Parrot squawks ]

According to waodani tradition,

as my father's oldest son,

I would be responsible for avenging his death.

So aunt Rachel warned me

never to appear too interested in the particulars.

She herself had no idea who the actual killers were.

But of course I couldn't help but wonder.

That was when I first saw mincayani.

I remember feeling like I irritated him.

[ Monkey chattering ]

[ Thud ]

[ Chattering ]

[ Drum beats ]

Mingi!

[ Breathing heavily ]

Aenomenani!

[ Indistinct shouting ]

[ Shouting continues ]

Are we going to run?

No, Stevie-boy.

[ Speaking native language ]

Dayumae: We no kill.

Waengongi say no!

You no kill.

Even spearing us --

we no spear you.

[ Shouting continues ]

Aenomenani very angry.

They say we...

Make fever.

They die.

[ Speaking native language ]

Ompodae say, "no.

We live well."

[ Shouting continues ]

[ Shouting continues ]

Ompodae and dawa pleaded with their family for hours.

In the end, it was the aenomenani's sickness

that helped turn the tide.

In the darkness just before dawn,

they became too weak to attack.

[ Calling ]

[ Speaks native language ]

Akawo.

Shell, this is tiwaeno! We have an emergency -- over.

Frank: Tiwaeno, tiwaeno, this is shell.

What's wrong, Rachel? Over.

Kimo and dawa have returned with the aenomenani.

All of them. They have polio. They're dying.

Over.

Roger.

You'll have to quarantine the village, Rachel.

[ Radio static crackles ]

You read?

We read you, frank.

Tell everyone to pray.

[ Speaking native language ]

[ Kimo shouting in native language ]

What's he shouting?

He's saying, "no food, children will die."

[ Shouting continues ]

[ Drums beating ]

The quarantine meant we couldn't leave the village.

No one could walk in with supplies.

I felt trapped in a place that wasn't my home.

Little did I know

that mincayani felt trapped, as well.

This place was his home.

Frank: How are you bearing up, Rachel?

The monkeys and wild boar seem to have abandoned

this part of the jungle.

Thanks for the drop. Over.

[ Talking excitedly ]

This is all the medicine we have in shell.

We're bringing more down from Quito.

And we need more advice on how to keep them breathing.

M-Maybe you could talk to Dr. Wally?

I did.

You just got to keep them moving

on those teeter-totters.

But their lungs are still filling.

We'll keep you in food and medicine

until the quarantine is lifted.

Tell marj marilou says little Phil is fine.

We're all praying for you.

[ Radio static crackles ]

[ Teeter-totter thuds ]

[ Buzzing ]

Iniwah: Bibanka...

[ Laughs ]

[ Shrieks ]

[ Shouts ]

[ Breathing heavily ]

Mincayani...

After eight weeks, the quarantine was lifted.

My mother and sister and I could finally go home.

The teeter-totters had stopped,

and with them, the endless cycle of revenge.

The waodani had found a reason to live differently,

and in the end,

that seemed to be what so many of them were waiting for.

I'll miss you so much.

You'll just miss the manioc.

[ Natives singing ]

I'd like to say goodbye to mincayani.

It's important to do what's in your heart, Stevie.

[ Singing continues ]

After I left mincayani,

I started a new life that would take me to the United States.

Aunt Rachel and I kept in touch,

and occasionally I'd visit in the summers.

She spent the rest of her life with the waodani.

I was living with my family in Florida

when I got the news that aunt Rachel had died.

It didn't come as a surprise.

We had known about her cancer.

And though she came from a large family in the states,

she wanted to be buried with the waodani,

who she considered to be family, as well.

So my wife, Ginny, and I traveled to Ecuador

to honor her request.

[ Hammering ]

What are you thinking?

How do you...

Weigh a life...

...of faith?

All mincayani said was

there was something I needed to see.

No other explanation was offered.

And so our journey that had spanned two worlds,

bridged the stone age and the 21st century,

finally led us here,

down the lonely curraray river.

[ Grunts ]

[ Woman vocalizing ]

Is this it?

Is this where -- is this where it happened?!

[ Gunshots ]

[ Gagging ]

[ Crying ] What?

What did he see?! Tell me!

[ Vocalizing continues ]

What?

[ Yells ]

[ Yelling ]

[ Grunts ]

[ Yells ]

[ Sobs ]

[ Cries ]

[ Crying ]

My father lost his life at the end of the spear,

and it was at the end of the spear

that mincayani and I found ours.

It's true that my dad and his four friends

were not given the privilege

of watching their children and grandchildren grow up.

But mincayani is a grandfather.

It's the first time in waodani history

they've ever had so many grandfathers.

He is not only a grandfather to his own children.

He's a grandfather to mine.

My dad would've liked that.

Through the years,

people could always identify with our loss.

But they could never imagine

the way that we would experience gain.

[ Tribal music plays ]

Mincaye got to come to the states,

and that has started these visits.

He said, "some of the foreigners are so nice

"that even when you're driving,

"you just stop by their houses, and you go to one of the...

Openings in their walls,"

and he said, "they just open it for you,

"and then they start giving you food,

and it's already hot, and it's already cooked."

He said, "I see those foreigners very, very well."

When mincaye came back from the states the first time,

he told the people

that the foreigners are really big and fat

because even when they go walking,

they don't move their feet.

They just get on the trail, and the trail moves.

Well, ompodae, his wife, said, "oh, you're talking wild."

Mincaye just kept saying,

"that's why all the foreigners are fat.

"They don't walk, they don't climb,

they don't make gardens."

When he got to that one, ompodae just said,

"well, how are they gonna live, then?"

Mincaye said, "they have these big food houses."

And he said, "there's just piles of food."

"First, there's these young people,

"and they're standing at the place where you go out,

and you smile as big as you can."

And he said, "they pretend like they're not seeing you."

He said, "and then after a little while,

"then they look at you and they smile.

"When they smile -- boom --

you can just go and take all the food with you."

And I said, "well, it's kind of like that."

So I just took out my credit card and I said,

"first you have to give them something like this."

And mincaye looked at all of them,

and he smiled and he said,

"they just give it right back to you."

Ompodae started griping at me.

She said, "babae, what do you mean sending mincaye back here?

"He was so fat that whenever I'd say,

'mincaye, go out and bring some meat back for me,'"

she said, "he would just go out

and he'd find a tree, and he'd just -- moh."

* under a new sky

* beyond all the fields

* nothing familiar

* but a voice spoken clear

* surrounded by strangers

* living with the same pain

* a need to surrender

* a love to regain

* two worlds collide into one new life *

* what once was lost, hope has found *

* the journey has only begun

* along the river

* along the river

* tasting freedom

* once stolen away

* chasing tomorrow

* and changing today

* two worlds collide into one new life *

* what once was lost, hope has found *

* the journey has only begun

* along the river

* along the river

* imagine a place that's awakened *

* imagine a man that's been shaken *

* imagine a home that's been saved *

* two worlds collide into one new life *

* what once was lost, hope has found *

* the journey has only begun

* along the river

* along the river

* two worlds collide into one new life *

* what once was lost, hope has found *

* the journey has only begun

* along the river

* along the rive-e-e-e-er

* along the river

* along the river

* along the river