Review of Embrace of the Serpent

In early 20th century, Theodor von Martius is a German ethnographer from University of Tübingen cataloging the tribes of the Amazon. He gets sick and is brought to shaman Karamakate by his native guide Manduca. Karamakate distrusts the white men who cruelly run their rubber plantations or missionaries wiping out the native culture. He believes that he's the last of his tribe until Theo tells him about an isolated group of survivors. He guides them back to his former home to find a yakruna plant. About thirty years later, Evan arrives looking for Karamakate. He tells him that Theo died later and Manduca brought his diaries back to Germany to be published. Karamakate claims to be suffering from memory loss and only a hollowed shell copy called chullachaqui.

The river journey is something like the Heart of Darkness. It portrays a harrowing vision of the struggles of the native community. It is enthralling. It is poetic. The characters are compelling. The only minor drawback is the ending which gets overextended. There is probably a quicker and more compelling way to wrap up the movie after what happened in the village. I like the surrealism in the end but it's just a little long.