‘Ainbo’: Timely themes in 13-year-old girl’s do-or-die mission

Ainbo, voiced by Lola Raie, sets her date with destiny

The animated adventure film “Ainbo: Spirit of the Amazon,” set to open in Philippine theaters today, may seem like the usual coming-of-age tale about a girl coming into her own as she embarks on a do-or-die mission to save her village and its way of life in the Amazon.

But there’s more to the Peruvian film, codirected by José Zelada and Richard Claus, than just a beleaguered heroine who must beat the odds to claim her destiny.

The movie follows 13-year-old orphan Ainbo (voiced by Lola Raie), who was raised by the doting family of the village chief in Candamo, located in the rainforest of the Peruvian Amazon.

Lifting the curse

Against the wishes of her best friend Princess Zumi (Naomi Serrano), who has just inherited her sickly father’s throne, Ainbo sets out to find a magical root deep in the jungle that can lift the curse and help her hungry people get back on their feet again.

With her spirit guides Dillo (Dino Andrade), a loony armadillo, and Vaca (Joe Hernandez), an oversized tapir, in tow, the brave tweener must find a giant turtle called Motelo Mama (Susana Ballesteros) and a grouchy sloth named Pelejo (Rico Sola) to help her accomplish her mission—but that’s easier said than done.

To be more precise, Ainbo must find the root that possesses the power to change even the darkest heart, but she must cut it from her favorite tree using a sacred blade made of moonrock!

Getting in the way of her complicated task are Caucasian botanist Cornelis DeWitt (Thom Hoffman), who wants to mine the untapped area for gold, and the jungle demon Yacuruna, a mythical creature from the deep ends of the Amazonian rivers and lakes who has the power to control gullible minds.

Ainbo may be young and inexperienced, but she isn’t her dead mother’s daughter for nothing. Her legendary mom, Lizeni (Yeni Alvarez), used to be Candamo’s most beautiful and gifted hunter. But is Lizeni’s legacy enough to protect Ainbo and keep evil at bay?

From left: Dillo, Princess Zumi, Ainbo and Vaca

Told from the perspective of Peru’s indigenous people, the film benefits from its gorgeous depiction of the Amazon, enlivened further by likable characters. But to say that “Ainbo” is just another fantastical work of fiction brought to life for pure entertainment would be imprecise.

Fusion of cultures

While it cleverly merges the story of a giant turtle that carries the jungle on her shell to hide it from sorcerers with that of a heroic girl who saves her tribe from hunger and lack of water, codirector Zelada also mentioned in an interview to promote the film that it was in fact inspired by his own mother’s story.

Zelada’s family comes from the indigenous Shipibo tribe living along the Ucayali River in the Amazon rainforest in Peru.

“We were lucky to be born in the Amazon and grew up enriched by its stories of [magic and] 260-foot-tall trees with spirits of their own,” the filmmaker related. “‘Ainbo’ is the fusion of my mom’s two cultures. She is the daughter of a European couple who came to the Peruvian Amazon rainforest as immigrants … and she was born at the heart of it.”

But the challenges that the Amazon has to deal with are as real as the dangers facing Ainbo and her people. Aside from the sad reality involving the degradation of the rainforest, there’s also illegal mining, climate change and the indiscriminate cutting of trees.

More than anything, the film is an urgent plea to the next generation about the importance of man’s coexistence with nature—and the incontrovertible fact that one cannot survive without the other. INQ