III.
THE WORLD
Mato Grosso begins in the deserts of Iraq, where John Cain Carter, a Long-Range Surveillance Army Ranger, is dropped behind enemy lines during the Gulf War. Beneath a sky darkened by oilfield fires, he sees firsthand how far-removed greed can scorch a land it doesn’t even understand. One night, in a shallow foxhole, he dreams of a jungle — vast and untouched — and watches it burst into flames. He doesn’t know where it is or what it means. Not yet.
Years later, John finds that place in the heart of Brazil, in the deep interior of Mato Grosso. He comes not as a soldier, but as a husband, a rancher, a man trying to build something good with his wife Kika. But once again, he finds fire waiting for him — not just in the forests, but in the corruption, lawlessness, and invisible hands that fuel it.
The fires in Brazil are not the same as those he witnessed in Iraq, but they burn for the same reasons: greed, power, and systems that profit from chaos. Corporations, criminals, and even elements of the global environmental movement exploit the region — not to solve its problems, but to sustain them, because the crisis is their business model. The real predators disguise themselves as corporate interests and environmentalists, justifying their actions through a false morality.
This world is one of contradictions: breathtaking beauty and unspeakable violence. A place where ancient wisdom survives beside modern brutality. Where jaguars still roam, but the battle for the land — and for the soul — is far more human. It’s not just a setting — it’s the film’s central pressure: a land that asks who you’re willing to become to protect what you love.