Opening scene
Where was this, and what exactly was happening? I'm referring to the very beginning with all the people carrying those bags to the top of that hill. What were they doing?
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To add to this, the mine is/was a cooperative, meaning that a group of young men would get together and purchase the rights to a small section of the mine and mine it themselves. Reggio claims that there were oftens moments of great tension between different groups of men, but that many young Brazilians went to Pala to try to find their fortune.
He also mentioned that he first saw Pala in a film (sorry, can't remember the film...)
It's not "Pala", it is "Pará".
And yes, it was a gold rush there, lots of people got killed in fights over the rights to dig up the gold.