One of the best films of 1992 is a war­ning by a South Ame­ri­can Indi­an tri­be that peo­p­le give up their self-des­truc­ti­ve ways and honor the pla­net befo­re it is too late.

After four cen­tu­ries of seclu­si­on, the Kogi, des­cen­dants of a pre-Colom­bi­an civi­liza­ti­on, asked BBC film­ma­ker Alan Erei­ra to visit their home­land in the Sier­ra Neva­da moun­ta­ins of nor­t­hern Colom­bia. From the Heart of the World: The Elder Brot­hers’ War­ning deli­vers their pro­phe­tic mes­sa­ge to the world.

See­ing them­sel­ves as guar­di­ans of life on earth, the Kogi have a spi­ri­tu­al under­stan­ding of the bond bet­ween human­kind and the natu­ral world. This bond, they insist, must be honored.

The Kogi are gover­ned by priests cal­led “mamas.” As child­ren, the mamas were edu­ca­ted in the dark and this ear­ly sen­so­ry depri­va­ti­on has made them fine­ly attu­n­ed to the mys­te­ries and plea­su­res of their moun­tain envi­ron­ment. The Elder Brot­hers, as they call them­sel­ves, are con­vin­ced that we, the Youn­ger Brot­hers, have woun­ded the earth through indus­tri­al explo­ita­ti­on, mining, and clea­ring of forests. They have seen signs of an eco­lo­gi­cal cri­sis in chan­ging bird migra­ti­ons and the lack of snow in the hig­hest regi­ons of the Sier­ra Neva­da. The Kogis warn that unless we chan­ge our ways, the world will end: “If we act well, the world can go on.”

The­re have been many arti­cu­la­te calls for citi­zens of this pla­net to live in harm­o­ny with the natu­ral world. But this video stands out as an espe­ci­al­ly cogent and moving plea for eco­lo­gi­cal wis­dom. (Text: Fre­de­ric and Mary Ann Brussat)