Selva trágica

A mysterious thriller set in the Mexican /Belize rain forest circa 1920. Two Belize/English speaking women in white are on the run from their English master, Cacique, (not a very English name?) Florence is a nurse, Agnes appears to be an intended bride. Cacique and is men catch up with them and kill the man who helped them escape, the women are shot and left for dead. Agnes however survives and wanders into the jungle, where she is found by a crew of gum harvesters. Amongst the men Agnes arouses their desires and as they decide to make a run for the border with their haul of gum they become paranoid that their boss will track them down and kill them. Is it the jungle and nature playing on their minds or are they bewitched by Agnes?, A Mayan voice over tells us about the dangers of the jungle and the mythical legend of Xtabay, a Demon woman who lures men to their death. The atmosphere of the jungle is claustrophobic and lends itself to some wonderful cinematography, it's full of wild animals and tension , a fittingly haunting score plays up the tension some more. It's actually almost a horror film but maybe too subtle for most people's definition?. The actors are pretty good and even though Agnes is a very laconic character, Indira Rubie Andrewin exudes mysteriousness. A film that might inspire you to look up Xtabay on Wikipedia, as it did me.

I didn't quite see the point of this film. Sorry to say this. But is this an exposition of a mere mortal who's transformed into a magical being in the Mayan jungle? The viewer doesn't feel the magical or mysterious or mythical in this film. It was a big letdown save for the great shots of the jungle.

Actually this is a decent movie. It's not perfect amd can be slow at times but I think it's a good effort for everyone involved in the production. It helps to interpret some things as metaphorical, which I believe is the intent. It wasn't until the end that I think I finally understood the movie, and ended up with a different opinion about key characters. With that in mind, if you sit through the whole movie, you'll end with a different perspective.

With perfect photography, tense music and sound, good direction and tropical reminisces to Coppola's "APOCALYPSE NOW" and Malick's "THE THIN RED LINE", this is, undoubtedly, a must see film.

Extremely lengthy storyline with 80% mugshots. They sometimes took mugshots of horses too! Although the description of this film entry promises something 'supernatural'- it has nothing to do with horror. Felt a bit touch of mystery genre, this one is more like a mixture of Latin crime and survival mix.

I didn't get the poetry of Mayan dude. As a non-Latin person, it took me some time to realize what his poetries were about.

Not a bad movie, but not that enjoyable either. I have to admit, the acting was great. Although it means mostly staring blank to camera -almost the whole time, but the actors did a really great job.