A polished documentary about the ongoing struggle of the Ecuadorian Huaorani to resist the incursions of international oil companies into their rainforest. Since the 1960s, oil drillers-initially from Shell, later Texaco and PetroCanada, and most recently and extensively, Maxus-have been coming in on the back of American missionaries, who in turn succeeded the earlier intrusions of rubber merchants. While the Ecuadorian government officially acknowledges that the "surface" land belongs to the Huaorani, it claims that the "sub-surface" rights are theirs to sell to all and sundry. In 1993 the combined forces of the government, missionaries, and Maxus successfully split the community, luring it into signing an agreement permitting the exploitation of an area the size of Massachussetts. The results-involuntary relocation, water contamination, and a proliferation of chronic medical problems, for starters-are as plain to see as the toxic wastes that are now liberally disposed of on the land "surface" itself.-I.B./L.T.