The subject of how to save our planet for future generations is one fraught with contradictions, as many different points of view clash, often to no conclusion. For the most part, documentary We Are Guardians doesn’t overtly pick a side, instead seeking to understand how Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest came to be such an ecological battleground. With alarming amounts of deforestation happening every day, those looking to preserve nature have taken up arms.

The film’s masterstroke is its focus on individuals, rather than manifestos. It follows Marçal Guajajara, a self-proclaimed Guardian of The Forest and part of the country’s indigenous population, taking it upon themselves to fight illegal loggers who are destroying their home. An activist and a land owner also take up the fight, confronting the loggers with threats against their life at times (at one point, the landowner feels nostalgic for the days when a logger would be found and killed with their own chainsaw.

While the plight of the forest and ithe Indigenous tribes are at the forefront of the narrative, this isn’t a tale of “Good Vs Evil”. The filmmakers also spend time with some of the loggers, who are far from the cigar-chewing capitalists at the top of the system. They are men from poorer neighbourhoods, making very little from their work, forced into the situation by circumstance or desperation. One laments a hole in his boot that he knows he won’t be able to fix. Another is discovered, and pleads for his life on behalf of his sick son. Some justify their actions with parroted pollical slogans, others accept that they are in the wrong, but feel they have no other choice.

The overarching message is that this is a war being fought by the poor, far from places of government. On one side, campaigners and tribes desperately clinging on to an indispensable resource. On the other, desperate men walking into the forest knowing the wrong turn may lead to injury or death. Above it all are the businessman and politicians encouraging this activity. If there is a villain here, it’s embodied by Jair Bolsonaro, the recently ousted President of Brazil who spent much of his term rolling back the rights of Indigenous people, and facilitating deforestation. To see the soundbites, immediately followed by their physical and social effects on the ground, is unsettling to watch.

The film isn’t here to play politics, however, but instead focus on a fight that continues in spite of escalating odds. Above the conflict, we see snapshots of the lives of all involved, and a balance with nature that is worth protecting. It’s coupled with jaw-dropping shots of nature, with footage so spectacular, even multiple sequences don’t lose their lustre.

A thoughtful, if emotionally frustrating documentary, We Are Guardians focuses on the battleground, the cost being paid while the rest of the world decides what to do about the ever-worsening climate issue. Whatever the outcome of this struggle, films like this rightly celebrate those looking to save us all.

We Are Guardians premieres as the 31st Raindance Film Festival.