Perhaps Daniele Incalcaterra and Fausta Quattrini started “Impenetrable” thinking they’d make a simple docu about Incalcaterra giving land in Paraguay back to native inhabitants, but his attempt to complete this do-gooding act became nightmarishly complicated. Back in 1983, Incalcaterra’s Italian father bought 12,355 acres of untouched land, and now he and his brother want to rid themselves of their colonialist burden. However, Paraguay is no country for altruistic men, and he encounters rapacious farmers, klepto-bureaucracy and a dysfunctional legal system. Solid and involving, “Impenetrable” will resonate with docu fest auds.
An Italo living in Argentina, Incalcaterra was never comfortable with owning land whose native Guarani Nandeva people have been marginalized, so he thought he’d sign it over to the indigenous population. Yet just finding it became a nightmare, since the property is surrounded by proprietary (and armed) farmer-developers responsible for criminal deforestation, who deny him access to public roads. Advised that giving the land outright to the Nandeva will make them targets, Incalcaterra decides to make the property a nature reserve, but then discovers someone else holds the same title deeds. A cautiously optimistic finale bodes well for the planet.
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