The Raft (1970)

Directed by: George Sluizer | 28 minutes | documentary

‘The Raft’ is an intriguing portrait of a poor family in the northeast of Brazil that makes a living from agriculture and undertakes a journey of about 1,100 kilometers every year – by raft – to reach civilization. It is both fascinating and sobering to watch the daily worries of these people and realize that they are trapped in a kind of vicious circle and will never be able to improve their life situation.

The family lives no less than 1100 kilometers from the big city. Every year they build an impressive raft the size of a large living room, where they take the journey to the big city with the whole family, a pig, goat and a couple of chickens. The raft requires 8,000 wooden beams, lots of reeds, bamboo branches and leaves for the roof, and a lot of muscle power. Not a single nail is used and the joists for the floor must be very tight together. It’s a great build that does its job well. All family members – husband, wife, daughter of about five and a baby -, animals and supplies are carried with ease and are well sheltered during their three-week journey.

Along the way they fish for piranhas (to eat), they have to watch out for alligators and they stop, among other things, at a church to pray for a successful journey. Once they arrive, they sell some chickens in the market, as well as all the wood from the raft that is completely broken down (they can’t travel upstream with the raft and therefore have to hitchhike and return home by public transport). Even the reed is used, by making bird cages from it, which are sold for 10 cents each.

All in all, the entire raft, together with the cattle, brings in ‘no less than’ $20, which is then completely spent on food for the return journey, medicines (the five-year-old daughter has developed dysentery), and transport. As a viewer, it makes you a bit despondent at the end of the film. It has all turned out to be a pretty pointless endeavor, it seems. But maybe this is what it takes to eat a bit of variety and get through the year healthy and well. Special.