Main content

Killing for Land

Killing for Land

If you are not affiliated with a college or university, and are interested in watching this film, please register as an individual and login to rent this film. Already registered? Login to rent this film.

In Brazil during the past two decades, nearly 24 million small farmers have lost their land, while almost half of Brazil's arable land is now owned by 1% of the population. Millions of poor farmers have migrated to the Amazon as homesteaders, and many have moved onto massive ranches carved out of the rainforest by large companies. These absentee landlords often leave the land idle and hold it purely for speculation. Violence erupts when the squatters begin to work the land and the landowners hire gunmen to frighten them off.