Mato Grosso

Killer, non-blockbuster (they can't all be, and shouldn't all be, box office smashes - there has to be room for really good small films) movie. Apparently a lot of watchers of this film spent a lot of viewing time yawning or chatting because most of their complaints are addressed in the course of the film.

This isn't a high concept story. It doesn't need explosions and chest beating, flash and deafening sounds to keep your attention.

Good movie.

Timely.

Scary if you think about it. Horrifying if you keep up with rare botanicals and disease.

Absolutely last note as to the film's worthiness ... Sean Connery.

In this day and age of too much reality, this movie shows reality on a grand scale. Toned down with a romantic story. Connery and Bracco are a matched team working in harness, plus the fact of the disappearing rain forests, allows this movie to work for me. I have seen it 9 times in the past 13 years and each time it is a pleasure to watch. Goldsmith's score is the icing on the cake. This is a believable plot. But then I was raised up on movies since 1935 and I wish there were more movies like this.

The scene in the trees is like a ballet. There is a real story here and I personally like the whole mix.

A fine movie, not to be judged on the basis of Hollywood's usual recipe for storytelling. The eccentric scientist Robert Campbell (Connery) who has found a cure for cancer out in the jungle, is not able to reproduce its exact composition. Biologist Rae Crane (Bracco) biologist has dropped in from academia to be his judge and jury and decide on Campbell's continued funding.

The film pays a fair amount of attention to scientific detail (such as "running baselines" and using "experimental controls") interspersing it throughout with lively and shrewd exchanges between Campbell and Crane. To that they add mildly sarcastic observations on field work and fund-raising committees. Whilst this scientific sub-story line runs along, we are shown glimpses of life in a sympathetic tribe for which Campbell has become a sort of sugar daddy. Ethics and personal choice confront both scientists as they struggle with the decision to reserve the last bit of serum either for the good of humanity or the life of one of the tribe's children.

McTiernan has weaved all these elements excellently and Connery and Bracco play their roles so convincingly that you could be excused for thinking they may have scientific backgrounds in real life.

The film is a feast for educated people - which is probably the reason why many of the critics have missed the fine points and proceeded to rattle off some vitriolic commentary more aimed, in my view, at self-aggrandizement than constructive film criticism. One even complained that Medicine Man didn't quite match up to Die Hard. Now there is a proper comparison for you.

The "Medicine Man" is set in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest which has become home to the eccentric Dr. Robert Campbell (Sean Connery), a biochemist doing field research. In befriending the natives and studying the `Tribal Witch Doctor' (Angelo Barra Moreira), he has accidentally discovered the cure for cancer from a flower extract that grows wild in the rainforest. He is assisted by Dr. Rae Crane (Lorraine Bracco) in trying unsuccessfully to duplicate the formula, before the commercial loggers come in and destroy his hope for a cure. Dr. Crane comes to the jungle with the motive of pulling the research grant for the project, as Dr. Campbell has been uncooperative with the bureaucracy. Coming to the jungle with guilt and regret from a prior research trip, `Morcara,' his work becomes his life, escaping reality and trying to compensate for the devastation he experienced. It was interesting to see how the natives accepted him, brought him into their `circle.' They accepted his medical knowledge and entwined it with their superstitions and natural remedies. He became so protective of the tribe, respecting their way of life, and customs that they come to trust him and call him the `Medicine Man.' The movie was released on February 7, 1992 and while the work of Director John McTierman, was different than his other movies "Hunt for Red October" or the "Predator," Sean Connery played out the part well. The sound of his voice is always welcomed. I've seen him in stronger parts, but I cannot see anyone taking his place beside Lorraine Bracco. The knowledge and wisdom of the experienced is passed to the inexperienced. I liked the environmental message that the director sent. The scenery was great from the tree top scenes to the trip through the jungle and the waterfalls. Anytime elements of nature can be used to heal the human body or someone can survive in the jungle by utilizing the natural habitat is a wonderful thing. It shows us everything actually depends on the natural creation of the earth from which it came.

I've never understood why this movie is so poorly received. Sure, Lorraine Bracco is a bit shrill. No one said she came from a "high class" family, just that she was marrying well. My sister-in-law is a scientist with NIH and she came from humble roots. That Bracco got through to the tribe's medicine man when Connery had failed was the contrast between the two approaches the "white man" could make toward the natives. Bracco's negotiating skills and stubborn common sense contrasted nicely with Connery's unintentionally patronizing approach. Who COULD have been cast who would have been more convincing as the "civilized" woman "going native". Lauren Hutton, maybe. The solution to the mystery of "compound 37" was a genuine surprise, even though it was partially revealed on two separate occasions. The climax was intensely dramatic, ironic and sad; though, it too helped usher in the satisfying conclusion. Jerry Goldsmith's superb score raises what is already an outstanding movie. I don't care about anyone else's opinion. For me, "Medicine Man" is a "10".