Floresta das Esmeraldas

THE EMERALD FOREST sees John Boorman returning to the dark heart of the world's wildernesses in this story about native tribes living in the Amazon. Powers Boothe plays an engineer whose son is kidnapped by one such tribe, leading him on a ten-year search for answers.

The film works on a double level. First, it stands as a completely adequate action-adventure, with all manner of violent shoot-outs, especially a climactic showdown that brings back memories of hard-hitting '70s greats like ROLLING THUNDER. There's suspense a-plenty, along with strong turns from both Boothe and the director's son.

The film's storyline also allows Boorman to explore themes that are clearly close to his heart, namely the destruction of the Amazonian rainforest by greedy developers and loggers, who turn out to be the real villains of the piece. Yes, it sounds like it could be preachy but it never is, thanks to Boorman's skill at handling the material with subtlety and grace.

THE EMERALD FOREST is virtually unknown today - I caught it tucked away in a late-night showing - but it doesn't deserve to be; DELIVERANCE is the better known effort but this comes close at frequent intervals.

I actually grew up near the city of Belem, shown in the beginning of the movie, and spent 18 years in the region. I also spent time in many of the Indian tribes in the area, including being "adopted" into one at the age of five.

The movie does a great job of showing many aspects of life in the jungle, including some of the lawlessness. The costumes are fairly authentic, and portrayal of many tribal customs is well done. The manhood ceremony is closely based on authentic ceremonies that happen in most tribes.

Altogether, about as good as you can expect from something that is not intended to be a documentary.

I like to watch in pairs, and this was paired with Herzog's "Green Ants Dream."

The central character here is a teen, played by the director's son, who is kidnapped by Amazonian Indians at six and raised in nature. There are threats, adventures, encounters with "civilization." They provide the focus of the energy in this thing. Its all about that energy which we take from the juice of adolescence, perceive as the energy of an action movie and conflate (as we are intended to) with the natural richness of the rainforest.

Its a simple trick, but by gosh it works. Why is not a mystery: the teen drive is transformed into something pure here, done so by the actresses who play the teen Indian girls, lovely, and effectively nude. In order to underscore the point, the plot has them (importantly, as a group) kidnapped into civilization as a the complement of the original kidnapping. But the purpose here is prostitution.

When someone knows what they are doing and delivers the goods, its always a remarkable thing. The narrative engineering conveys the lack of engineering, and makes us desire the purity of encountering things without artifice.

Conveying this notion is then mixed with a completely unrelated message about the destruction of the rainforest and its central importance to the global ecology. Its rather dishonest, this, but because its such a noble cause we let it slip. But its a shame. In their defense, the acknowledge that just being native doesn't endow goodness: there is an "evil" tribe. Part of the tragedy is not shown: natives everywhere in the world aggressively damage the environment as much as their capabilities allow.

The perfect delicacy of this puts "Apocalypto" to shame.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

This movie supposedly sends an environmental message, and that's certainly true, but if you look closely it's really a fig leaf (like one of those little flaps on a string that constitute the sole bit of clothing worn by the villagers) for an updated Tarzan movie.

That said, this movie is tremendous entertainment. It is exciting almost all the way through. And when it's slow, there are lots of cute teenage girls in the altogether to gaze at. In fact, there's a demographically striking abundance of teenage girls in this particular tribe.

Favorite scene: During the courtship ritual, Tomme is given a club and is supposed "knock out" his girl in front of the villagers and then carry her off into the forest. She cowers. He hesitates, waves the club around. She glares at him and whispers, "Do it right!" So he hits her and she makes a show of being "knocked out." The whole courtship ritual is beautifully staged. I cannot attest to its authenticity, but it's perfectly clear as he "defends" her from menacing dudes, refuses to be carried off by the other girls, etc. The sheer enthusiasm portrayed is remarkable.

Powers Boothe, playing a dam engineer, makes a dashing Trader Horn-type. He has a great scene when he wakes up in the village only to see his son, Tomme, sleeping peaceful and embracing his girl, both practically nude in the next hammock. The expressions that run across his face are priceless.

The Fierce People live up to their name, but I am dubious that people who live in nature can be so infected with violence.

I learned something. You can climb a high-rise by wrapping vines around your feet. Who knew? The dam business at the end was totally righteous, but, really, pretty preposterous.

And how about that shot of the eagle in flight. Taken from about two feet away. Pretty neat.

Terrific Hollywood movie? You bet. Werner Herzog? Not so much.

Touching, well-paced, sad, uplifting, absorbing. Good acting, good writing. Lots of meaning, lots of symbolism, but never in your face, never tiring. Mystical stuff that's presented well and believably. A movie at once so ambitious and so real and so well-done...there just aren't very many in its league. Action, love, adventure, drama, striking images, succinct dialog. Amazing.