Embrace of the Serpent (El abrazo de la serpiente)

Dir: Ciro Guerra

2015

*****

Ciro Guerra's 2015 film Embrace of the Serpent is nothing short of stunning. Filmed in black and white (apart from an amazing sequence later on in the film) I wondered why Guerra would pick such a basic visual, considering the rich colours found in the Amazon. The answer came after only a couple of seconds. Instead of concentrating on colour, Guerra explores the stunning textures of the Ramsar Wetland and Inirida River in the heart of the Amazon. This really makes the film come alive but also is an indicator that what is happening is in the past. The film is separated into two intertwining chapters. The first takes place in 1909 and sees Karamakate, a shaman and last survivor of his tribe approached by German Scientist Theodor Koch-Grunberg and his companion, a westernized local he freed from the rubber barons. The doctor is desperately sick and his guide begs the shaman to save his life with his knowledge of the mysterious yakruna plant. Karamakate is cautious of the westerner and his westernized companion (who he sees as deserting his cultural roots) but agrees to help them anyway, partly due to the promise that the doctor will take him to his tribe who he convinces are still alive and flourishing further down the river. Disaster strikes their expedition and an encounter with a Catholic Mission, the three men acting very differently when faced with unexpected cruelty. The three men inadvertently free the local young boys of the Church but abandon them at the same time. Years later in 1940, an American Scientist visits Karamakate after reading about him in Koch-Grunberg's journal that he wants to complete. He asks the shaman again to show him the secret of the yakruna plant but Karamakate is now old and isolation has made him forget his people's traditions. He agrees to help him but only so he himself can remember the secrets with a view to going on to teach other locals of their traditions. However, the American isn't what he seems and when the two men stumble upon the Mission Karamakate encountered thirty years previous, their journey takes a surreal direction. Ciro Guerra is a brilliant director, I don't want to take anything away from him or his masterpiece but Embrace of the Serpent could easily be mistaken for a Werner Herzog film. It is an incredible indictment of colonial imperialism and a killing of a people, literally and in spirit. The impact of the rubber boom and of the Catholic Church had a devastating effect on the people and traditions of the Amazon and this is retold quite beautifully and with respect. Based on real life journals of the time, Guerra explores the harsh and bizarre truths of a place and a time. The film's double conclusion is incredible in that while it is deeply sad and frustrating, it is repeated, making it utterly devastating and strikingly poignant. The shaman’s teaching and his traditional stories sound nonsensical to westerners but the basis of the way of thinking is integral to prosperity, survival and wisdom and reveals a very different way of understanding what is essentially going on around all of us. It's a wonderful mix of history and fantasy and it is performed and filmed beautifully throughout (Nilbio Torres and Antonio Bolivar playing young and old Karamakate brilliantly, Jan Bijvoet and Brionne Davis playing the two scientists and Yauenku Migue is utterly convincing as the ex-slave and companion Manduca). There is an element of Apocalypse Now and Aguirre, the Wrath of God about it, not just because all three are shot on a forest river but both river and forest provide an excellent portrayal of road and where it can lead when filled with maddening obsession. It's a stunning film, an absolute masterpiece and easily one of the best of 2015 and indeed the decade.