The daily struggles and hopes of the more than twenty million Brazilians who live in the Amazon, mostly in cities, are rarely present in analyses and images that inform perceptions of the region outside Brazil. The Amazon is generally portrayed as a land of mystery populated by indigenous people surrounded by exotic fauna and flora in a environment threatened by encroaching mining, farming and other economic activities. Mark London offers a different, decidedly less romantic and more realistic perspective in “Shark Loves the Amazon”- a documentary he produced after three decade of extensive travels and two books he wrote about the region with journalist Brian Kelly. The film depicts the hard realities of a region attempting to find the path to a sustainable model of development that promotes economic activity while preserving Earth’s last great forest and its unparalleled concentration of biodiversity.