Ian (Flash Review)Not just relating to the Amazon River but the introspection of depth that the man seeking a rare healing plant must dive into in order to find it. That is the core story line but there is much more to it and open to one's personal perspectives. The film is shot in rich black and white and has two timelines. Two white men, 40 years apart or so locate the same native who knows where to find the plant. So you get the see the native as a young buck and a wise old man. The two timelines allow the viewer to see the effect of some modern cultures that have slipped into their primitive world over time. Yet another story nugget is more spiritual. Both searches (old and new) are on long journeys through the jungle and as they search the native encourages the white man to help locate the plant by looking into his soul and feel for it and ask the jungle for help. Pretty interesting film with great cinematography, authentic cultural scenes and some very surreal moments yet some may find the pace a bit sluggish.

Red-Barracuda Set in the early to mid-twentieth century in the Colombian Amazon, a shaman, who is the lone survivor of his tribe after it has been wiped out by the white man, guides two explorers on expeditions, forty years apart. Both white scientists seek a sacred plant with healing powers, both for different reasons.I first have to say that I saw this film with English subtitles that were, shall we say, a little uneven. I should have known I was in for an interesting ride when the English translation of the movie title came up as 'Hug a Snake'! So, I am pretty sure that several things must have been lost in such a translation. This is certainly a contemplative look at the effects of colonialism on the indigenous South American people of the Amazon. It does so it an admittedly very subtle manner, although we do see some of the effects that the rubber plantations and the spread of Catholicism had on the people of the area.If I'm being totally honest I did not fully connect with this film and I'm not sure it's all to do with the ropey English translation in the version I watched. I think it was more that its ideas of the spirit world and nature just didn't interest me very much. It is nevertheless quite obviously an impressive production on some ways though. The authentic use of indigenous dialect was something to be commended, while the black and white cinematography was good. Ultimately, the content wasn't really my cup of tea but I can still see some value in it.

alexdeleonfilm Viewed at the Golden Apricot Armenian film festival in Yerevan, 2015 "The Embrace of the Serpent", best picture prize, Golden Apricot festival, Yerevan. Director, Ciro Guerra, Columbia. This film was the discovery of the year for me and it was obvious from the word go that it was going to win the top festival prize. Shot entirely in crisp penetrating black and white. This is the story of the relationship between Karamakate, a nearly naked very muscular Amazonian shaman, the last survivor of his people, and two German botanists who work together overthe course of 40 years to search the Amazon for a sacred healing plant. Employs native Amazonian languages on most of the soundtrack.So realistic it looks like an anthropological documentary on primitive people. Gripping. Hypnotic -- plays out entirely in the jungle -- you are there. Cast: Nilbio Torres as Young Karamate, with sculptured body Antonio Bolivar as old Karamakate. Bottom Line: One of the most unusual movies ever made.

fyrwerx The world is sick. Everyone knows it. As we have become more separated from and disrespectful to Nature, it has responded in ways that we are just beginning to feel. The perfect storm of organized religion aiding capitalistic industries to feed Western- style urbanization was all initially conceived and supervised by my ancestors, exploiting the labor of indigenous peoples who had lived in harmony with nature for thousands of years. I am a white American of Christian-European ancestry. The core of our white insanity was our total belief in a "God-granted" right to subdue the natural world for our own misguided purposes. Now, almost all peoples of the world have taken on this same insanity and the exploitation of natural resources has intensified exponentially. It's all wrong. It's all bad. It's all going to end horribly. Our only hope is for all of us -- or at least, most of us -- to turn away from mindless consumerism and return to simpler lifestyles where less is more and a healthy planet is seen as our only real asset. This extraordinary movie is a masterpiece that makes all of these points. In the future, if humans have to leave a decimated Earth for some gamble on interstellar colonization, I hope they get to watch this movie before they begin again.