30 years ago, 2 members of an unknown tribe - nicknamed Auré and Aurá - emerged from the Amazon jungle. The language they spoke baffled experts: it was unlike any they had heard before. They've pieced together a vocabulary of some 800 words, but questions remain. What happened to the tribe these men belonged to? And why were they the only ones to survive? Now Aurá lives alone. This program attempts to understand his story and solve the mystery of his past.
"This program was originally aired in Japan in December, 2018"
In the Amazon, which teems with life, one man does not fit in.
He is the last survivor of an unknown tribe.
His language is understood by no one but him.
He alone can speak it.
30 years ago, this man turned up in the forest.
He was an "isolado," an indigenous person who'd remained out of contact with modern civilization.
"August 2014"
Even today, the occasional appearance of isolated tribes in the Amazon rainforest makes news.
But this man's case was unusual.
Only he and one other man were found.
"May 1987"
The language they spoke, only the two of them could understand.
The Brazilian government called the men "Auré" and "Aurá,"
and brought them to a reservation where other indigenous groups were under protection.
Now 30 years have passed, and Aurá has been left alone.
Experts estimate he's between 60 and 65 years old.
He's no longer able to go hunting.
The government provides him with the food and clothing he needs to live comfortably.
Officials have issued a report regarding Aurá's status.
His language remains a mystery.
This unknown tribe will be extinct before long.
Brazil's government manages over 300 reserves that protect the indigenous population.
Aurá lives in a small village that is rapidly developing.
For indigenous people who've adapted to this world, shooting bows and arrows is now just a pastime.
They've gotten used to electricity, television and mobile phones.
With the introduction of such modern conveniences, their lives have changed dramatically.
But Aurá has never shown any interest in these things.
He spends his days quietly, making objects like necklaces and bracelets.
In May 1987, Aurá and Auré appeared as if out of nowhere.
Receiving a report from settlers, officials hurried to the spot where they'd been found.
The men were living in a simple hut, where they slept on palm fronds on the ground.
They ate only small animals that they could catch with their bare hands.
He gave me a turtle and told me to eat it.
It was simply boiled whole, and tasted fishy.
When I took a photograph, they were
frightened and ran out of the hut.
They'd probably never seen a flash before.
What surprised officials most was their language.
It was a totally unknown language.
We tried Tupí, Arára, Parakanã,
Asuriní, Arawaté...
nothing got through.
The team looked all across Brazil for someone who could understand the language...
to no avail.
Every morning...
A man living next door walks over to Aurá's house.
He speaks three indigenous languages perfectly.
However, the brief conversations he has with Aurá are not in any of those languages.
It's a language only Aurá can speak.
Under the direction of the government, Norval Oliveira has studied the language for close to three decades.
He lived with Auré and Aurá in their hut,
pointing at things around them and collecting the words they spoke.
Norval collected 800 words.
There were few adjectives or verbs.
Almost all the words were nouns.
Why was it that these two ended up being left alone?
Norval believes that by collecting more words, he'll be able to solve the mystery.
Let's go.
With Norval leading the way, we walk toward Aurá's house.
Aurá.
We're here.
We have a hammock.
We're coming in.
This hammock is for you.
And some beads.
After a while, Aurá starts talking to Norval.
He's talking about "something" on the roof.
He's saying "kumbiai,"
but I don't know what that is.
There are still many words that Norval doesn't understand.
All he can do is string together words that he does know, and guess at what's being said.
He said, "There are no arrows here."
Now he's talking about a jaguar.
After about 15 minutes, Aurá turns his back on us.
Being around strangers is very stressful for him.
He then withdraws into the back of the hut.
We're leaving.
It seemed that communicating with him was not going to be easy.
A few days later, Aurá visited the health center about 50 meters from his hut.
When he's in good spirits, he'll show up unexpectedly in the early afternoon, and have a snack.
No one can understand what Aurá says, except for Norval.
But that doesn't keep him from talking.
From his movements and gestures,
he appears to be talking about things he sees and sounds he hears.
Then, suddenly, his voice becomes agitated and his expression changes.
Twenty minutes later, he falls silent.
What was he saying?
We showed Norval the video.
He says "iwara," so it should be something
about the sky, but I don't understand.
"Otimanoe mukuin."
I think it means
"the two walked for a long time."
"Karaii" means "non-indigenous person."
He's talking about a "karaii" with a beard.
During his monologue, Aurá said several words over and over.
"Karaii," "non-indigenous person."
And "otimanoe mukuin," which means two people walking for a long time.
This is what Norval thinks it means.
Aurá might be telling the story of his first encounter with "karaii" deep in the forest.
Many
Beards
Walk
Many
"Karaii"
Cow (?)
"Karaii"
Many
Night
Many
Walk, two of us
Path (?)
Aurá and Auré had made their sudden appearance in the Amazon forest.
At that time, highways were being built that penetrated the forest,
and landless farmers had begun to settle in the hinterlands.
Then, one day, Aurá and Auré broke into this hut that some settlers had built.
We were terrified.
They had machetes.
Yes, machetes.
They were waving them around.
The men were completely naked.
They were very angry.
They said something over and over,
but we couldn't understand.
I think they wanted money.
If other members of their tribe had been found,
a reserve could've been established just for them.
But repeated searches of the forest failed to find anyone related to the men.
To avoid potential trouble with the settlers,
the government decided to remove the two from the forest.
After six months of effort,
they were finally lured to this truck, then thrown into it.
When the truck stopped at the settlement,
the villagers surrounded it, taking turns looking inside.
Everyone went to have a look.
But the officials shouted,
"This is not a freak show. Stand back."
When I saw them leave, I thought...
The land is finally ours.
Aurá and Auré were then sent to several facilities and reserves.
However, wherever they went, trouble ensued.
When living at a reserve of the Asuriní, they murdered a member of the tribe.
They killed a man with a machete.
To do something like that...
it wasn't human.
I don't want to see them ever again.
After the long sequence of moves, Aurá ended up here, at his thirteenth location.
On this day...
Aurá has stayed in his hut and hasn't set foot outside.
The nurse who lives on the reservation stops by to check on him.
Aurá.
Are you there?
Were you sleeping?
Those are cute pants.
You can eat this later.
Aurá is fighting a bad cold.
The nurse gives him antibiotics and cough suppressants.
Modern science is doing its best to keep Aurá alive.
Two days later, he finally emerges.
With the nurse's permission, we pay him a visit.
His cough has cleared up.
Aurá starts to talk.
Jaguar
Long ago
Wild pig
Coconut (?)
A bird (?)
Forest
According to Norval, Aurá always tells the same stories.
However, there is one exception...
a matter he spoke about just one time, and never again.
It involved Auré, his only companion.
When he came to the health center, we tried to ask him about Auré.
Aurá.
Where's Auré?
Where is he?
Is he far away?
Fruit's name (?)
Wild pig
Cow
Instead of talking about Auré, he just repeated the names of animals and fruits.
According to government officials, Auré always seemed to be frightened of something.
"November 2002"
This footage was taken in 2002, fifteen years after their first contact.
When encountering people who were not from his world, Auré would try to smile.
But his complex expression reflected some underlying, unreadable emotions.
In contrast, Aurá always appeared to be much more relaxed.
In Aurá's eyes, Auré may have been a companion who needed protection and support.
And above all, he was the only person who had survived with him in the forest,
the only one with whom he shared everything.
It's not known whether the two were brothers.
But one thing was certain: they were inseparable.
They hunted together, ate together, and talked together.
And the flow of conversation between the two in their hut never seemed to end.
Twenty-five years after they first emerged from the forest,
that special relationship came to an abrupt end.
Auré suddenly began to lose weight and had difficulty moving.
He was taken to a hospital.
In the car, Auré and Aurá snuggled up together for the entire 6-hour journey.
They were startled by everything
they saw from the truck.
It must have been frightening.
They were especially shocked by cars.
It was the first time they had seen
life on the streets of a big city.
Not only was it their first time in a hospital:
they had also never seen a bed before.
In this room, the men put the mattress on the floor and slept together, side by side.
Auré's condition soon worsened, and he was transferred to a large hospital.
Aurá accompanied him there as well.
Auré had terminal cancer.
One night, under a crescent moon, Auré passed away.
Aurá sat and gazed at Auré's still body for a long time.
When Norval came to pick him up, Aurá simply said:
"Auré okkin" - Auré died.
That was the last he ever spoke of Auré - his companion.
Aurá makes his way to the village health center.
It is unusual for him to be out so late.
Here you go, Aurá.
The staff thinks that, after he has had something to eat, he'll go back to his hut right away.
But Aurá starts talking, and doesn't stop.
Smoke
Smoke
Forest
Smoke
Sparks
The nurse and the staff don't understand a word of Aurá's language.
Sparks
Loud noise
All they can do is pretend to follow along.
Even left alone at the table, Aurá continues to talk.
Two of us
Two of us
He goes on talking, even though no one is listening.
No children
No children
Children...
No children
Aurá talked for more than 3 hours, then returned to his hut.
Smoke, forest, sparks, a loud noise, two of us, children...
Those were the only words that Norval could make out.
Norval says that, after Auré's death, Aurá began to change.
Aurá has adapted to life with the other tribe, and he spends more time talking with Norval.
On some evenings, Aurá suddenly drops by Norval's house for a chat.
After spending lots of time with Aurá...
Norval noticed that Aurá adopted a sad, pained expression whenever he uttered certain words.
They were these three words:
"Okkin."
"Momiin."
"Manu."
Norval isn't sure if these words have more than one meaning.
But he believes that they all mean "disappear" or "death."
And there's something else...
After these words related to death,
Aurá utters a series of other words that suggest the fate of his tribe.
We asked Norval if he could get Aurá to talk more about that.
Why gone?
Everybody gone?
Your father?
Death
Mother?
Death
- Everyone?
- Yes.
Everyone gone?
Death
Women gone?
Death
Children too
All
All death
Children too?
Death
Why did they die?
Arrows
Death
Death
"Pita-pita" is the sound of arrows piercing flesh.
If arrows were used, maybe the people who attacked Aurá's tribe were members of another indigenous group.
However...
- Who killed?
- Rain
Loud noise
Over there
"Toppon" means a loud noise...
It could be thunder or gunfire.
- Who?
- Beard
Many beard
Big canoes
Who is he talking about?
"Karaii" with beards.
Is he talking about non-indigenous people?
Who is he saying killed his tribe?
It happened at a once primitive forest.
In 1970, a major project began tearing through the trees.
A gold rush brought a flood of 100,000 people to the region.
The largest iron mine in the world was opened here,
and a railway was built to transport the ore.
What happened there as the forests dwindled?
Was there a conflict between indigenous peoples?
Or slaughter by intruders from the outside world?
Nothing is spelled out in official records.
The notes about Aurá and Auré simply state:
"There were just two men found."
We head toward the forest where the two men's hut was reported to have been found.
It was located one thousand kilometers to the west of where Aurá now lives.
- Can we get through?
- No, it's a dead end.
A mining company.
Reaching the forest is not as easy as expected.
The road we thought would take us there is blocked by a mining company.
When we finally get there, the forest has been transformed into pasture.
Thirty years ago, this was where Aurá and Auré had built their hut.
Before that, perhaps they had lived here with other members of their tribe.
What happened in that forest?
And why was there only two of them left?
No matter how attentively we listen, our understanding is limited to 800 words.
Maybe it happened on a rainy night.
Maybe there was an attack with arrows, and splattering of blood.
Maybe "karaii" with beards came in a large canoe.
Loud noises and sparks.
Perhaps those were gunshots.
The others might have died right before their eyes.
The two were left alone, and had to walk for a long time through the forest.
Only one man knows what really happened in the forest.
And he must continue to live in solitude
with a language no one understands and memories he cannot share.
The man now known only as Aurá.