Oct 31
International Film Forum: EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT
Embrace of the Serpent [El abrazo de la serpiente] (Ciro Guerra, 2015, Colombia/Venezuela/Argentina, 125 min.) – Presented by Jay Beck
“A visually mesmerizing exploration of man, nature and the destructive powers of colonialism, Embrace of the Serpent (El abrazo de la serpiente) marks an impressively realized third feature from Colombian writer-director Ciro Guerra…. Featuring knockout black-and-white cinematography and an array of breathtaking locations, this ethnographic journey into the heart of the Amazon […] was inspired by the journals of two explorers who traveled through the Colombian Amazon during the last century: the German Theodor Koch-Grunberg and the American Richard Evans Schultes, here transformed into the characters Theodor (Jan Bijvoet) and Evan (Brionne Davis). Cutting between 1909 and the 1940s, the parallel narratives chart each man’s voyage down a similar stretch of river as they search for a rare flower, the yakruna, with alleged healing powers. On both journeys they are guided by the same forlorn native shaman, Karamakate (Nilbio Torres in 1909, Antonio Bolivar in the 1940s) – the surviving member of a tribe that was wiped out by years of brutal foreign invasions.” (Jordan Mintzer, Variety)