#legends of the peruvian indians (1978)

[helenapsent]

Legends of the Peruvian Indians

Okay, today I'm going to tell you about another underrated Soviet cartoon. Many people said this cartoon frightened them, while others liked it. The cartoon lasts 16 minutes, but even with such a short running time, it is able to interest the viewer.

The music is impressive, unlike anything you've ever seen, and makes you just want to hold your own eye to the screen. And the whole story is tied to illustrations depicted on clay jugs that belonged to ancient Peruvians who lived 1800 years ago. And Vladimir Basov's voice-over narration keeps you in suspense throughout the whole picture.

However, we can now move on to the story itself:

"A long time ago, more precisely a thousand and fifteen hundred years ago, there lived on Peruvian soil a people who could neither read nor write. And maybe today we would know nothing about the Mochica Indians if it were not for these drawings. Since ancient times, art has represented life, people's perceptions of good and evil, their past, present and future.

This is how the ancient Peruvians depicted the world. The upper tier was inhabited by powerful gods and the lower tier by mortal men.

And who are these? The demigods. Magical heroes of magical legends. They were the ones Mochica liked to draw the most. Who are they? Twin brothers - half-human, half-jaguars. Their mother gave them a human face, their father gave them bravery and sharp fangs. And they were raised by a frog - very kind and very wise.

Thus begins the story of the lives and exploits of the two brothers.

When the brothers grew up, the frog sent them off to the world of men and gave them a basket of wondrous fruit for their journey. Before the brothers came, the people of the land knew neither corn, nor pepper, nor beans, nor peanuts. The messengers of the good frog brought abundance of prosperity and joy to the land of Mochica.

Jealous of the fun of the people, they were attacked by the monsters of the land.

And this bogeyman is still referred to by the Indians as the "Fearful Beast Rekuai".

Only the Fearful Beast Rekuai miraculously escaped from the brothers and hid on the moon.

But here comes a new danger from the depths of the sea: after the monsters of the land, the brothers were attacked by the monsters of the sea.

The land and sea monsters are gone. The times of fear and powerlessness are over. The brothers brought peace, joy and happiness back into people's homes.

The inhabitants of heaven, from their celestial height, sometimes take a glance at the sinful earth: how is it with people? But that is why they are celestials, to know that fun does not last, happiness is fickle, and human life is an endless chain of trials.

What happened after peace prevailed in Mochika's land? After sitting on the moon, Fearful Beast Rekuai decided it was time to take revenge on the humans and kill the twins at the same time.

So one day, when Big Brother was away, Rekuai sent the cunning Centipede to see Little Brother.

" - Ungrateful people have forgotten you, their deliverers. Will you not avenge them? Come with me, and you will be taught how to do it…"

The cunning Centipede led Little Brother to the Wicked Witch.

" - Give the people one more gift! " The Sorceress advised Little Brother, "Give them weapons, and they will forever repent of their ingratitude!"

Little Brother believed the cunning old woman. Before, Mochica had no weapons of war… Now everyone decided that he was invincible and all-powerful.

But the weapons were magical. " - Know our formidable power and turn into servants? No. We are all-powerful without humans! " - the things decided. And at the sign of the Wicked Witch, they refused to obey humans.

" - O Almighty Gods! " - the Big Brother cried to the heavens, "Look up from your heights! Why are humans so cruelly punished?"

And then the Supreme Deity decided to come down to earth to bring order here.

And the weapon, which thought itself equal to man, was turned to dust and splinters by the Gods. The Wicked Witch was cast into the bottomless abyss, Beast Rekuai again hid on the Moon - that's where the moon spots came from, by the way - and Little Brother for giving in to the wiles of Beast Rekuai and almost ruining the human race was forced to maintain the firmament, and at the same time the sky was raised higher. May the human world be more spacious!

The Gods, since they lifted up the sky, no longer come down. Demons and monsters don't threaten people, and people have returned to their peaceful labors.

But some are haunted by the memory of the Wicked Witch's gift. It seems to them that if they could find the fragments of magic weapons and make sticks and helmets out of them, they could conquer the whole world!

Big Brother has decided to leave the people forever. But the Peru Indians believe that one day he will return, and that peace and abundance will be there for centuries to come.

This is the story told by the drawings of the ancient Peruvians. Alas, no one will ever tell if fantasy has led us the only right way. Although… Aren't the legends of all the peoples of the earth about the same thing? About power and powerlessness, about truth and lie, about evil and good, and about eternal faith of people in the triumph of justice?…

[suzanna-polixena]

What can I say, I love Blood Angels ❤ And I'm glad to know it's mutual because they come to my aid whenever I feel down and want to bleed inks on marker paper and mentally rave to 70s synthesizers.

And big thanks to Soyuzmultfilm for the amazing animated short inspired by Moche/Mochica mythology. It's so visually stunning and trippy and more importantly it shows proper research of the source material.

[fabioarturo1]

"Legends of the Peruvian Indians". Excerpt from 1978 Soviet animated film.