2. The reason why ayahuasca is not mentioned a word in the whole movie is simple. This herbal/ritual is sacred among local tribes and does not want to be over-exploited, and what the movie wants to express is not the result of existing anthropological data—"The indigenous people don't feel comfortable if we speak of real plants , real myths, real songs because they're sacred. With fiction, however, you can modify these things. We wanted to arrive at the most profound truth, not the superficial truth of anthropological data. "
Of course the more realistic reason is that ayahuasca contains A large number of DMTs are classified as first-level banned drug ingredients by many countries.
2. The accompanying shaman (witch) advises the director not to drink ayahuasca during the filming process, the reason is "If you do it with something so specific in mind, or a specific purpose, then you get punished", this concept is repeated in the movie Mention-People can truly access the multidimensional world of ayahuasca only when they throw away all external objects and without any distracting thoughts.
3. In the second paragraph, Dr. Richard Evans Schulte from Boston is considered the father of modern ethnobotany. During his journey in the jungle, he recorded about two thousand kinds of medicinal plants, and observed that although the ayahuasca of various tribes have different formulas, the main ingredient is Banisteriopsis Caapi. His book "The Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers (1979)" still sells well today. The second author of the book, chemist Albert Hofmann, is the discoverer of LSD.
4. Regarding the method of intersecting two-paragraph narratives. In the concept of aboriginal people, time is not a straight line (this is what general relativity has already told us), but the joint action of multiple universes at the same node. Because the concept of time has been distorted, the boundary between reality and dream has become more elusive. For Karamakate (and the indigenous tribes), although two different scientists came before and after, the same soul was communicated with them from beginning to end. As Karamakate said to Dr. Schulte in the second narrative, "I had a dream once. Of a white spirit who did not know how to dream. He was sick, and the only way he could heal was by learning to dream ."
5. Some Shaman believes that each medicinal plant will open a different door to perception and help people understand the universe in multiple dimensions. There are also some tribal leaders who use this spiritual journey to find solutions to practical difficulties-wars between tribes and resistance to foreign invaders. (This is what I saw in the documentary, it has nothing to do with the film, and it is also an abuse in my opinion)
6. The main reason for choosing black and white photography is that the Amazon we see now is no longer the colorful biosphere recorded by scientists at the time. In the local language, there are at least 50 expressions of green. Rather than using digital to achieve an inaccurate image, it is better to restore it through the audience's imagination.
7. It is said that the shot of white butterflies flying around Karaamakat in the jungle is neither CGI nor any props. It is a miracle of harmony between man and nature.
8. The gospel cult that claims to be "Messiah" is also a malignant tumor that exists and repeatedly breeds in the Amazon jungle. Although the Jodorowsky-style clip in the film has made the scalp numb and cold, the real situation is much worse (there has been a large-scale suicide of hundreds of people).
There is much more to discuss about this movie. Including the rubber wars, Colombia's colonization of tribes, the destructive penetration of Western civilization into uncharted territory, and other herbs that grow in the Amazon jungle and may make a huge contribution to mankind. But there is a question that bothers me. If ayahuasca is really the key to human understanding of the universe, if the primitive jungle tribes have already penetrated the mysteries of the universe, is our civilization progressing or regressing? The so-called agricultural revolution, industrial revolution, and even the biological revolution of information technology, in addition to bringing the so-called comfortable life and self-confident mental masturbation, where will they take us to the universe?
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