Shot during the seven months of the Brazilian sugar cane harvest, this video portrays what may be the last generation of the nation’s 800,000 sugar cane cutters (an environmental law approved by the National Congress has ruled that by 2015 practically all cane harvesting must be mechanized). Today, however, cane cutters, both men and women, each manually cut over 38,000 pounds of sugar cane a day. Featuring interviews with these rural workers, in which they discuss their hopes and dreams, the video also documents their challenging daily work routine.
Directed by Jorge Wolney Attala
2001, 69 mins.
Purchase: $350 Rental: $95

“[In Cane For Life] raises profound questions that could structure a whole semester’s discussions about globalization, poverty, structural violence, culture, social structures, and the nature of the world we live in today and are creating for tomorrow.” --The Americas:A Quarterly Review of Inter-American Cultural History