100 Dias na Floresta

Well, I worked on this movie, and personally I think the actors did an excellent job all through. (They were, incidentally, not working under the best of conditions.) However, the editing is fairly terrible, and for that reason alone, I still don't understand why we won the Gemini. Especially if the subject interests you, I recommend seeing it; but know that it could have been better. Michael and company did well especially in the ending jungle scenes, for which I was not present, but some very good material nearing the end of the movie was unfortunately removed; Emily and the supporting cast performed excellently (at two o'clock in the morning, two days before Christmas, at twenty degrees below zero at the airport), and I was sorry to see those scenes cut from the final product.

With compassion and honesty, 100 Days in the Jungle tells the story of eight men held for ransom by a group of Columbian rebels. Seven are from Edmonton, Alberta, one is American. I live in Edmonton and watched this story unfold in real life and real time on the pages of my local paper and TV. Both The Edmonton Journal and CBC TV had crews in Ecuador following the real story, as it happened. The film version is an honest portrayal based on the stories of the men, the reporters and those at home in Edmonton. This is a rich tale that has a particular resonance at a time when westerners are seen as a target of kidnap for financial or political gain. It won the Gemini Award for top movie or miniseries. Well worth seeing.

I watched this yesterday, to be truthful, I never heard of the original story until after watching the movie. With human endurance related films like "Alive" and so many other true stories, this one stands above them in the heart of Canadians like me. 8/10

Interesting movie of how Canadian hostages struggle to survive, and how the authorities work for their release. The story revolves around the hostages and their internal struggle to keep moral high. Fairly good directing and genuine acting. I'd give the movie 7/10.

This film is an embarrassment to Canadians. Though it was horrible for the pipeliners to suffer their ordeal in the jungles of Ecuador, this film gives the viewer no opportunity to understand any of the complexities of global corporatization. The female Canadian translator who pointed out how the people of Columbia live in poverty while the US (and Canada) benefit from their oil was quickly shut up early on, and we never hear another word about living, breathing people in that part of the world.

The hostages dream of 2 inch, prime cut steaks while in captivity. What do the people of Central America have to dream about? Bringing a bunch of actors to Costa Rico's forests to cover them in mud and fake wounds is not enough to convey this true story. Hauling in Nicholas Campbell as the FBI agent felt like an attempt to pull in viewers. Campbell's successful tv role as real life Vancouver coroner Dominic DaVinci (not the original's real name) was based on a man who acted on behalf of suffering drug addicts in his city, rather than treating them like criminals. Aligning himself with this one-sided story gives it no more credibility.

100 Days is well filmed and terrifying to watch at times, though predictable and cliched. I never felt like the makers of the film knew what was really going on in the world beyond their privileged lives. 2/10 for defining "real men" in this shallow and partial way. Though Canada spends less on films that the US, this is no excuse for bad film-making. I've seen many excellent films made on shoestring budgets.