Embrace of the Serpent Film Difficulty Ranking: 4
Wow. Possibly the best film I have seen this year so far, Embrace of the Serpent is many things at once. It is a beautifully shot film set deep in the Amazon jungle that delves into many themes, including Life and Death, Culture, Civilization, Religion, and Exploration. This is a must see.
From: Colombia, South America
Watch: Trailer, Rent on Amazon, Buy on Amazon, Hulu
Next: Aguirre, Apocalypse Now, Black God, White Devil
Why Watch Embrace of the Serpent?
- You like watching movies with BIG themes (see above)
- To be transported to the Amazon rainforest (I recommend watching this with surround sound).
- You enjoyed Apocalypse Now or Herzog’s Aguirre.
- You want to debate how responsible we are for protecting and maintaining different cultures.
The Breakdown
Embrace of the Serpent opens with the Amazon river and an immersive soundtrack. A tribesman in traditional dress stares out from the side of the river. A canoe comes up to him, it’s driver calls out names to the tribesman on the shore. The tribesman remains motionless, a spear fixated on the new arrivals, for in the canoe is a white man. “Go Away” is his only response. Nevertheless arrival insists that the white man needs urgent medical help. The tribesman disappears, angry that his life has been disturbed by this surprise arrival, he Karamakate is the mover of worlds, the guardian of the sacred all-healing Yakruna plant.
This is film is pure thrilling adventure. Just like the visiting white man in this film, we are not accustomed to the rain forest. Our cultures have no place there. Director Ciro Guerra makes this clear by disorientating us with a truly immersive soundtrack and the black and white film. The soundtrack forces us to listen to nothing but the loud rain-forest, something that I was not used to, but loved for the 2 hours I was in the cinema. It was obvious that I was not at home but in a world completely different from my own. Similarly, the black and white cinematography emphasizes the distance between our world and the world of the Amazon rainforest. The black and white emphasizes the non-existence of civilization and marks the difference between our world and theirs. It also makes it way more surreal and spooky.
Don’t be afraid, for there is some banter in this film. Particular highlights include, laughing at the love letters, some awkward dancing, and canoe paddling fail. The difference in cultures is evident and becomes a strong and very interesting debating point in the film. How far should we go to protect our own cultures and other cultures? Throughout the film there is a battle between indigenous culture and the growing sphere of western ‘white’ culture. Are we all responsible for protecting all cultures? The many European languages spoken in this film demonstrate the threats to indigenous cultures worldwide (featuring English, Spanish, Portuguese, German). This film will spark a (hopefully) intelligent post-movie thoughts.
Overall my favorite attribute of the film was it’s immersive quality. I truly felt like I had been placed in the Amazon rainforest and was in the canoe traveling with the protagonists. I am looking forward to watching it again to further interpret the allegories and imagery this gem offers. Please don’t be put off by my writing, this one is a beauty!
A Comment From the Director
Whenever I looked at a map of my country, I was overwhelmed by great uncertainty. Half of it was an unknown territory, a green sea, of which I knew nothing. The Amazon, that unfathomable land, which we foolishly reduce to simple concepts. Coke, drugs, Indians, rivers, war. Is there really nothing more out there? Is there not a culture, a history? Is there not a soul that transcends? The explorers taught me otherwise. Those men who left everything, who risked everything, to tell us about a world we could not imagine. Those who made first contact. During one of the most vicious
Ciro Guerra, Director
holocausts man has ever seen. Can man, through science and art, transcend brutality? Some men did. The explorers have told their story. The natives haven’t. This is it. A land the size of a whole continent, yet untold. Unseen by our own cinema. That Amazon is lost now. In the cinema, it can live again.
What to Watch Next
Firstly, if you want to continue watching great films set in the jungle, check out Herzog’s Aguirre: Wrath of God, Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam War classic Apocalypse Now, and Tropical Malady from Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
Or if you want to watch three films which influenced Ciro Guerra (the director) check out Black God, White Devil, The Death of a Bureaucrat, and Memories of Underdevelopment.
Lucia and I Am Cuba are two more great Latin American films which delve into colonialism and the Cuban revolution.
','' ); } ?>