Uncannily hypnotic aesthetics immerse viewers into the heart and soul of the jungle
POINTS: 7
Winner of the Directors’ Fortnight top prize at Cannes, of Best Film at Mar del Plata, and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (Colombia), El abrazo de la serpiente (Embrace of the Serpent), the third feature by Ciro Guerra (The Wind Journeys) is nothing short of an aesthetic wonder where uncannily hypnotic visuals and pervasive eloquent sounds immerse you right into the heart and soul of the Amazon as you follow a voyage through jungles, rivers and places inhabited by natives often wary of white men.
Think of Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre, the Wrath of God, or of Miguel Gomes’ Tabu, and, of course, of F.W. Murnau’s Tabu, and you’ll get a fair picture of the territory and the viewpoint Guerra has undertaken in his new outing. Spoken in nine different languages and meticulously filmed in striking, stately black and white photography in widescreen, Embrace of the Serpent switches back and forth between two time periods to skillfully tell a moving ethnographic tale about the destructive nature of colonialism on local cultures and nature at large.
Written by Guerra and Jacques Toulemonde, the script is based on the journals of two explorers who crossed the Colombian Amazon in the early 1900s and the 1940s: first there’s the German Theodor Koch-Grumberg, who here becomes the character of Theodor (Jan Bijvoet), and then there’s the American Richard Evans Schultes, that is to say, the character of Evan (Brionne Davis). Joining them in the different trips down the river narrated in parallel times there’s a local guide, Manduca (Miguel Dionisio Ramos), who has befriended white men as well as taken on Western customs.
In the first story set in the 1900s, Theodor is seriously ill and in dire need of finding the yakuna, a rare flower that is supposed to heal him. In any case, if the yakuna can’t do so, then nothing will. There’s also Karamakate (Nibio Torres), a native shaman who certainly knows his way in the jungle and can lead Theodor to the flower he so much needs. But it so happens that Karamakate is the last man of his tribe, which was almost completely annihilated by invasions of white men in the past, so he’s rather reluctant to do what’s asked of him. Nonetheless, after some persuasive talk, off they go downriver and deep into the Amazon.
Set in the 1940s, the second story concerns another expedition taken on by Evan, the American explorer also in search of the yakuna because of its healing powers. This time, Karamakate (who’s much older and is played this time by Antonio Bolívar Salvado Yangiama) seems a bit less wary, but equally disheartened seeing the footprint of Western civilization on his native land. Also an exploration of man and nature, this second story adds new layers in a more oblique manner. While Embrace of the Serpent is definitely a truly fine piece of narrative cinema, it could also be said some that at times it has more to do with the contemplative viewpoint of poetic cinema.
However, there are two noticeable narrative missteps. First, there’s an unfortunate tendency to be conceptually recurring from time to time. That is to say that, for example, after depicting a handful of episodes illustrating the evil deeds of the white man — including a crazed priest from a Catholic mission who fiercely punishes native boys and a mutilated worker from a rubber plantation pleading to be killed as to end his suffering — you are likely to expect some sort of dramatic build-up to a discourse that opens up a new path, or perhaps something that would go beyond what’s already shown. Hence, from time to time, you may feel you’re being fed more of the same.
Secondly, at 123 minutes, Embrace of the Serpent is overlong. Perhaps it’s because of some of its digressions, or its uniformity, or some of its not-so-insightful ideas. It’s strange because it’s a film that can certainly be subtle, and yet it’s not so throughout. And while it’s true that the editing is seamless, Guerra’s third outing could have used some 20 minutes less.
Production notes
El abrazo de la serpiente (Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, 2015). Written by Ciro Guerra, Jacques Toulemonde. Directed by Ciro Guerra. With Nilbio Torres, Antonio Bolivar, Yauenku Miguee, Jan Bijvoet, Brionne Davis. Cinematography: David Gallego. Editing: Etienne Boussac, Cristina Gallego. Running time: 123 minutes.
@pablsuarez
