The film explores the rise of a Wayuu man and his family as they enter the drug trade, prosper, and slowly lose their traditions and former way of life.

Leonidas, Ursula's youngest son who has grown up knowing only extravagant wealth, drunkenly tries to seduce Anibal's daughter, and later forces one of her bodyguards to eat dog feces in exchange for money.

He uses the last of his money to hire mercenaries to decimate Rapayet's compound, leaving only Ursula and Zaida's daughter Indira alive.

The filmmakers based the film on real stories they heard during this research phase and incorporated members of the community into their production.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Birds of Passage traces the familiar arc of the drug crime thriller from a different direction that's as visually absorbing as it is hard-hitting.

"[15] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 86 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

[16] Some critics have compared it favourably to other crime saga films like The Godfather, Scarface and the television series The Sopranos.

IndieWire's Eric Kohn awarded the film a B+ rating, calling it "another fascinating tone poem about Colombia’s fractured identity".

But as with their previous film (Embrace of the Serpent), it is the specificity that counts, and while certain genre tendencies prevent the narrative from truly unmooring, hardly a scene goes by without something fundamentally familiar being rendered in a unique fashion".

[18] Variety's Peter Debruge wrote that "few films have captured quite so powerfully the tension between the old and new worlds — a feat “Birds of Passage” accomplishes while simultaneously allowing audiences to channel the Wayuu’s surrealistic view of their surroundings, where spirits walk the earth, and wise women interpret their dreams".

[19] Jessica Kiang of The Playlist stated the film was "wildly alive, yet it reminds us that no matter how modern we are, there are ancient songs our forebears knew whose melodies still rush in our blood".