Toroboro: The Name of the Plants

At the turn of the century, a renowned ethno-botanical study took place in Quehueiri-Ono, a village in the Ecuadorian Amazon region. It was a partnership between botanists and the native Waorani community, who had lived isolated from the rest of the world until the 1950s. Director Manolo Sarmiento reunites the researchers with community members for a new expedition, aimed to give thousands of plants threatened with extinction a scientific name alongside their Waorani name.

More than a record of this enterprise, Toroboro: The Name of the Plants chronicles the history of a people who have been the victims of genocidal colonization since the arrival of Christian missionaries. The main threats to the survival of the Waorani are now the oil and timber industries.

Community leaders and younger people help to establish the historical context. One of them was eight years old when he served as interpreter during the initial expedition. His anecdote about being patched up by two Waorani elders after a serious fall from a tree forms the leitmotif in this documentary about the tragic fate of a resilient people.