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#314 - Embrace of the Serpent
Ciro Guerra, 2015
A sickly German anthropologist and his manservant must enlist the help of a lone Amazonian shaman in order to locate a rare plant with healing powers.
Though a sufficiently experienced film buff should be able to pick apart the various influences and homages that can be found in Embrace of the Serpent, the fact that it barely matters to the film outside of that is a testament to its power. Based on actual ethnographic journals, the film jumps back and forth in time as it follows an Amazonian shaman named Karamakate. The first part of the story involves him reluctantly teaming up with German explorer Theodor and his ex-slave companion Manduca after Manduca implores him to help Theodor by using his medicinal prowess. This prompts the trio to set off on a voyage along the Amazon in order to find the rare and sacred yakruna plant that is necessary for healing Theodor's particular illness. The second part of the story takes place many years later as an older Karamakate meets another white man who is searching for yakruna - an American botanist named Evans, whose interest in the plant is strictly academic. In any case, they both serve as similar yet distinct foundations upon which a story can be told and many issues surrounding Colombia's history of colonialism and genocide can be examined.
Embrace of the Serpent is perhaps a bit too blunt and slow to be truly hypnotic, but it nevertheless proves a thoroughly fascinating watch. The interplay between the varied cast of characters is great as their perspectives are established and thrown into conflict against one another (with a striking early example being a scene involving Karamakate and Theodor arguing over a compass), all while averting or subverting rudimentary tropes such as those of the noble savage or the white saviour. Both the young and old versions of Karamakate prove outstanding in a cast where even the simplest of characters have personality to spare. The monochromatic cinematography makes good use of darkness and provides a starkly captivating side to otherwise verdant scenes of nature, plus it makes some of the film's more nightmarish moments seem even bleaker and more troubling than one would think possible. As a result, Embrace of the Serpent becomes a truly outstanding piece of work that hits virtually every mark it aims for in telling a story that is outwardly harsh and intimidating in terms of both its visual style and its depiction of turn-of-the-century barbarism. It may be almost completely devoid of romanticism, but it's not lifeless - powerful cinematic blood courses through every frame.
Ciro Guerra, 2015
A sickly German anthropologist and his manservant must enlist the help of a lone Amazonian shaman in order to locate a rare plant with healing powers.
Though a sufficiently experienced film buff should be able to pick apart the various influences and homages that can be found in Embrace of the Serpent, the fact that it barely matters to the film outside of that is a testament to its power. Based on actual ethnographic journals, the film jumps back and forth in time as it follows an Amazonian shaman named Karamakate. The first part of the story involves him reluctantly teaming up with German explorer Theodor and his ex-slave companion Manduca after Manduca implores him to help Theodor by using his medicinal prowess. This prompts the trio to set off on a voyage along the Amazon in order to find the rare and sacred yakruna plant that is necessary for healing Theodor's particular illness. The second part of the story takes place many years later as an older Karamakate meets another white man who is searching for yakruna - an American botanist named Evans, whose interest in the plant is strictly academic. In any case, they both serve as similar yet distinct foundations upon which a story can be told and many issues surrounding Colombia's history of colonialism and genocide can be examined.
Embrace of the Serpent is perhaps a bit too blunt and slow to be truly hypnotic, but it nevertheless proves a thoroughly fascinating watch. The interplay between the varied cast of characters is great as their perspectives are established and thrown into conflict against one another (with a striking early example being a scene involving Karamakate and Theodor arguing over a compass), all while averting or subverting rudimentary tropes such as those of the noble savage or the white saviour. Both the young and old versions of Karamakate prove outstanding in a cast where even the simplest of characters have personality to spare. The monochromatic cinematography makes good use of darkness and provides a starkly captivating side to otherwise verdant scenes of nature, plus it makes some of the film's more nightmarish moments seem even bleaker and more troubling than one would think possible. As a result, Embrace of the Serpent becomes a truly outstanding piece of work that hits virtually every mark it aims for in telling a story that is outwardly harsh and intimidating in terms of both its visual style and its depiction of turn-of-the-century barbarism. It may be almost completely devoid of romanticism, but it's not lifeless - powerful cinematic blood courses through every frame.