The Garden of Evil

Director: Larry Keating
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 78’
Year: 2021
Language: English
Category: Crime and Conspiracy
Category Sponsor: Hula
Topics: Aotearoa, Environment, New Zealand, Political

Was it a simple robbery or was the Mafia behind murder in the amazon?

Two environmentalists Sir Peter Blake and Captain Pete Bethune, were brutally attacked in the Brazilian Amazon on separate expeditions 16 years apart. One was murdered and the other survived. Following the attack, Captain Pete vowed never to return.

Irish journalist & professor of criminology Donal MacIntyre, Brazilian Caio Vilela and British journalist Sam Cowie meet up with Captain Pete, to seek the truth. Captain Pete must face his own demons as they travel back to the crime scene, unravelling the connections between corruption, organised crime, and violence in one of the most dangerous cities on the Amazon.

It explores the possibility that the attacks might have been planned and executed by powerful criminal organisations involved in illegal logging, drug trafficking and the export of endangered animals from this highly volatile and politically unstable region.