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An Australian aboriginal instrument called a "didgeridoo" began a special screening of "Avatar" for indigenous leaders from around the world. The event coincided with the 9th Session of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York.
Raising awareness
Before the movie, they offer gratitude to director Cameron for the artful way "Avatar" told their message to the world.
After the movie began, Cameron took a moment to explain the link between this audience and the movie.
"It's raised awareness of the issues. Of course, the film is a fantasy," says Cameron. "So it doesn't really educate. It creates a kind of emotional framework or context for a dialogue, which follows from the film."
The story centers on a marine who agrees to gain the trust of the Na'vi people on a distant planet, while gathering intelligence about them for an invading force from Earth. They want the information to get the Na'vi to relinquish the precious resources on their planet, Pandora.
Hitting a nerve
The invasion of Pandora resonated with Native American Willy Littlechild of the Treaty Six Territories in Northern Canada.
"North of us is what they call 'the heavy tar sands,' where machines, huge, huge machines come in to the area just like in the movie," Littlechild. "So that to me had a tremendous impact because of the serious violation of the territories of Mother Earth. It is devastating, really."
The marine in "Avatar" falls in love with a Na'vi princess and is won over by her people's ethos of harmony with nature. He switches sides and leads the Na'vi to victory.
Mixed reaction
Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, an activist with the Kankanaey Igorot people of the Philippines, who have struggled for decades to protect their ancestral lands from logging and mining interests, had a mixed reaction to the film.
"I thought the movie was really very good. It really represents the reality that many indigenous peoples face, and, of course, the reality of how indigenous peoples relate with nature," says Pauli-Corpuz. "What I didn't like was the white man being the messiah. But he [Cameron] explained that because he is a white man, he is the one making the film, he would like to show it as a way for the white man to really make the amends for what they have done to indigenous peoples."
But Carmen Ramirez Boscan of the Wayuu People of Colombia remains mistrustful. She says their desert land continues to be devastated by coal developers with the government's cooperation.
"They say we are doing good things, that it's developing our territories when they are just raping our Mother Earth," she says. "You are eating coal all the time. You are breathing coal all the time. They don't care about us. They only care about money and how to make money. But it's not going to change. Their economic interest in the world are very, very much more powerful than our cultures."
Wake-up call
Director James Cameron says "Avatar" is meant to be an emotional film, not a political one. He says he's not trying to reconcile the competing claims between corporations, governments, the balance of nature and the rights of indigenous people to live in their traditional lands undisturbed.
Still, he says: "The movie was meant to be a wake-up call. My fantasy is I grab the civilized world by the lapel and shake and say, 'Wake up!' because, you know, we've got to deal with this situation."
James Cameron is the director of the film "Avatar", he spoke with the Voice of America during his special screening of the film scheduled to coincide with the annual meeting of the United Nations' Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
messiah: 救星
（来源：VOA 编辑：陈丹妮）
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