Shot in the South American Rain Forest, John Boorman’s environmentally-conscious Brazilian adventure takes a while to find its footing, but hits stride midway thru, doubling down in a thriller of a third act. Even as it stumbles out of the gate, the basic plot quickly hooks you as dam engineer Powers Booth loses his 9-yr-old son when the boy is abducted by indigenous tribesmen at the edge of the forest Booth is busy denuding for development. (Yes, knee-jerk irony and ‘80s style New Age mysticism come into play.) But when Dad’s ten-year, on-and-off search finally brings father and son face-to-face, the grown boy is too fully integrated in his tribe for rescue while the incursion of modern civilization and the fast shrinking forest acreage is taking its toll on the forest peoples. (That’s Boorman’s extremely fit son Charley as the boy, now 19.) Son rescues father/father rescues son between ethnological set pieces (Rain Forest rituals of manhood, engagement, wedding feast) along with dangerous conflict between tribes (the son’s Invisible People; the cannibalistic Fierce People, night hunting Bat People, and the Termite People, the tree devouring modern man). Superbly shot by Philippe Rousselot (his first work out of France?, he’d also do Boorman’s HOPE & GLORY/’87 and TAILOR OF PANAMA/’01 ), the film’s at its best in an action-loaded third act when the son must go to the city, find his father, and both return to fight for what’s left of his tribe. (A visually spectacular epilogue is pure overkill, very David Lean, and obviously even less 'based on a true story' than the rest of the film ridiculously claims to be.)
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Powers Booth had a belated big screen breakthru in Walter Hill’s SOUTHERN COMFORT/’81, a film much influenced by John Boorman’s DELIVERANCE/’72. However Boorman found him, Booth is excellent here, and looks damn good in the revealing native ‘thong-ware.’ It’s tucchus city out there.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: More effective/less romanticized, EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT/’15 is something of an art house alternative and not to be missed. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2017/01/el-abrazo-de-la-serpiente-embrace-of.html
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