Review by manfromplanetx

This unusual classic drama is a co -production between France and Gabon. Documentary footage opens the tale which looks to be the swearing in of the new President, part of Gabon's 1960 independence ceremony ? Is it any wonder the meandering story has such a mish-mash of ideas there are eight writers credited... Top billed is Marina Vlady playing Isabelle a mysterious enchanting ethereal beauty, but it is some time before she makes the first of her brief and fleeting appearances. Having studied medicine in France a young doctor Philippe Mory comes back to his native Gabon and takes charge of a vaccination project. He encounters opposition from the superstitious locals and a sceptical jungle hardened white man, Jean Servais. The lush Gabon setting could be but is far from idyllic, using a backdrop of an exploitive forest logging operation, disturbing to this veteran forest activist is watching the actual felling of ancient forest giants. We watch in intimate detail the native workers chopping away at a huge buttressed tree sending it crashing to the ground. Brooding Docteur Philippe has been distracted, deservedly so after his mysterious encounters with Isabelle,the main attraction of this interesting but rather silly concoction....