A Review: Embrace of the Serpent
Ciro Guerra’s 2015 masterpiece Embrace of the Serpent is a beautiful film based of the diaries of Theodor Koch-Grunberg, (1872-1924) who was a German ethnologist (someone who characteristics of various peoples and the differences and relationships between them.) and explorer, and Richard Evans Schultes, (1915-2001) an American who is considered the father of modern ethno-botany. The story is the relationship between an Amazonian shaman, Karamakate, who is the last survivor of his people, and the two scientists who need his help finding, Yakruna, a scared, fictional, plant with healing powers.
This film is shot entirely in black and white and it’s stunning. The cinematographer David Gallego does an excellent job of using the color to his advantage. When you’re in the jungle it feels much more intimidating with the lack of colors. He also does a great job of making certain characters look very powerful at times and some characters quite weak at other times. It didn’t hurt that they were filming in the remarkable (yet very intimidating) Amazonian region of Colombia. The cast and crew spent seven weeks filming in the Department of Vaupés, and one week in the Department of Guainía. It is no wonder that the Academy Award nominated Embrace of the Serpent for Best Foreign Language Film and it won the Art Cinema Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
One of my favorite things in this film and something I think is the most impressive is how many different languages are spoken throughout the movie, there is: Cubeo, Huitoto, Ticuna, Wanano, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Catalan, Latin, and some English. Guerra commitment to keeping this movie authenithenic is way beyond the ambiusion and abilities that most filmmakers possesses. It also shows how terrific Ciro Guerra’s foresight is, that he chose to keep just the tribe and plant fictional, for the fear that it could create culturalization or even unwanted tourism to a place if he had told a story containing real tribes and real extraordinary magical flowers.
Embrace of the Serpent does a great job with the pacing of the two different timelines throughout the movie. We aren’t being thrown back and fourth between Grunberg in the early 1900’s and Evans in the 1940’s every 10-minutes. In fact the film only switches between the two maybe 3-4 times. This is perfect. The film more than holds your intention throughout. Once you start to wonder about the other characters in the future of past you are back to them.
This is a must watch for anyone who truly appreciates film. A two-hour movie with 99% subtitles can be intimidating but it is absolutely worth it. Whether it’s historical knowledge or cinematic knowledge you will without-a-doubt learn a thing or two from this film. Embrace of the Serpent is a one of a kind film that delivers factually interesting information alongside wonderfully enticing fictional storytelling all while being shot beautifully in black and white.
