The Burning Season (1994 film)
The Burning Season is a 1994 American made-for-television biographical drama film directed by John Frankenheimer. The film chronicles environmental activist Chico Mendes' fight to protect the Amazon rainforest. This was Raul Julia's last film released during his lifetime, premiering on HBO on September 16, 1994, five weeks before his death. The film was based in part on the 1990 book of the same name by journalist Andrew Revkin.
The Burning Season
Biography
Drama
The Burning Season
by Andrew Revkin
William Mastrosimone
United States
English
John Frankenheimer
Thomas M. Hammel
Grazia Rade
Grazka Taylor
Diane Batson-Smith (co-producer)
123 minutes
HBO
September 16, 1994
Plot[edit]
Chico Mendes was a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist who was murdered in 1988 by ranchers opposed to his activism. The movie opens in 1951 with a young Mendes witnessing his father's interaction with corrupt ranchers who are exploiting peasants for their work. The bulk of the film then takes place between 1983 and 1988, showing Mendes' activism to preserve the Amazon rainforest, to his murder in a drive-by shooting by a disgruntled rancher waiting in the shadows.