"Snake Embrace" (also translated as "Sleepwalking Amazon" 2015) by Colombian up-and-coming director Hiro Gellar does have the meaning of sleepwalking.
As the most common animal in the Amazon, snakes have a certain totem image to the local Indians. But Kalamaka, the native incarnation of the film, doesn't like snakes, and he reprimands Theo for being a snake. 32 years later, after experiencing blood and rain, he also angrily denounced Evan as a snake. The so-called "snake hug" for outsiders came from this.
Kalamaka was rightly offended. After all, the arrival of the white man will do nothing but destroy everything. This genetic inheritance of distrust has continued. Since the Spanish plundered Latin America, the whites are not interested in the locals except for natural resources such as rubber forests and minerals, except for killing. Of course, after hundreds of years of racial integration, it is now beyond recognition, and pure-blooded Indians have become a minority. The most typical is Argentina, like a European country, more than 95% are white.
Theo, who came from the Stuttgart Museum in Germany in 1909, and Evan, who came from Boston, the United States in 1941, are both scientific workers. In addition to their research, they have records, and the film is adapted from these records. In 1909, Theo found Kalamaca, a tributary of the Amazon, through his local assistant, Manduca, and needed a mysterious plant called "Ayahuasca" to cure Theo of his tropical disease. The problem is the lack of trust in each other. Kalamaka thinks that white people kill people with guns. He accuses Manduka of being a bastard who is a slave of white people. Manduka claims to be a pure-blooded native.
Kalamaka can be said to be reasonable and restrained. In the tangle, he still used a combination of "Ayahuasca" and witchcraft to heal the dying Theo. But he needs to find his clan. Kalamaka didn't understand why Theo brought so many boxes. In his opinion, they were all useless. Only the water, the forest, and all the animals and plants here have souls.
32 years later, Kalamaka met Evan, who was following Theo's footsteps, and said similar things. It's just that Evan has a lot of acquaintances. He threw away the books and clothes, leaving only a manual record player. He said that this gave him comfort and should not be thrown away. But in Kalamaka's view, the rivers are full of music, as long as you listen carefully. Back then, Theo thanked him with money, he said that only ants like money, I don't. Evan is looking for Yukuna, a miracle of the Indians, which Theo did not want to reach. The towering valley, full of white butterflies and dead wood, is inaccessible.
Kalamaka followed Theo to find the tribe in the Yari River. They were pure and natural, except that they made Theo dance the German dance and got nothing. Theo found out the next day that his compass had been stolen by his tribe. Kalamaka denounced Theo's irrational act of asking the people to return, and asked him to respect the people. He said that we will not get lost if we follow the directions of the stars.
"Rubber means death". In the terrifying part of the film, when Manduka saw someone cutting rubber in the rubber forest, the thick white juice aroused his anger, and he kicked off the rubber buckets with his feet. Unexpectedly, a middle-aged man with no arms The natives jumped out hoarsely, shouting that I have no life, no life. Manduka took the spear to kill him, but was stopped by Kalamaka and Theo. Manduka resented the damn rubber forest. The subtext is that it is the looting and killing of white people that it attracts.
Manduca said the river water flows down from the Milky Way. Gradually, Kalamaka and Theo gained trust, but it was not yet firm. According to Kalamaka, the local people do not kill fish. Theo felt that the nutrition was not enough, so he threw himself into the water to fork the fish and swallowed it alive. As a result, he became seriously ill and had to be healed by Kalamaka. What Evan went through was not very different from what they had experienced in 32 years.
In Dowa Vopes, white gospel-singing priests used whipping to control their bodies and minds in the name of rescuing and protecting local children. Kalamaka said to these children, you take a bowl, look at this plant, pick off the leaves, you can make medicine and help the sick, everything here is the root of our tribe. The whites are crazy, and after the Peruvian genocide, there are only crying souls left in this land. The rise of civilization actually implies the fall of civilization. Salvation and dishonesty blend together.
Kalamaka laughed rarely when he saw Theo handed him a black and white photo, he said it was a mirror, without a mirror there would be no memories, but he rejected the necklace given by Theo, he said it was very precious . There is a section in the film in which white people who call themselves Messiahs take advantage of the weaknesses of the local people and lead a group of local tribes. Kalamaka healed his wife, and at the celebration party, Kalamaka used another poisonous botanical medicine to let him drink, and the self-proclaimed Messiah did not "go to eternity" as he called. ".
Manduka once said to Kalamaka that Theo is a hero and if we don't listen to him and don't study, we're all done. This reflects their inner conflict. The big environment that I had to face in the struggle, I felt that when I didn't give it to me, everything was lost. At that time, the tribe exclaimed that "the Colombians are coming".
Evan in 1941 told the old Kalamaka that I was going home to fight a war to keep the peace, my people needed me. Kalamaka says you only kill. Of course, what Evan said was that after the Pearl Harbor incident, the United States faced two battlefields against Japan and Germany at the same time. Even John Ford took up the camera and participated in the battle to recover the islands in the Pacific Ocean, not to mention his ordinary scientific work. By. But he has to get to Ukula. Kalamaka said "This is Yukura, I won't let you take it away, this is the last stop in the world, God Dreamworks, this is my gift to you. You should not be afraid, hugs are the best gift ."
In the meantime, the film turned the mountains, jungles and Amazon rivers of Latin America into a splendid starry sky, boundless, and finally became the tears of God. At the end of the film there are memorials for Theo (1872-1924) and Evan (1915-2001). "Embrace the Serpent" can be said to be full of divinity, metaphysically presenting the Indians' respect for the unity of nature and man. However, the film has not yet jumped out of the stereotype of witchcraft and denunciation, so it is only a formal rather than a deep-rooted civilized dialogue. To put it bluntly, I still want to prove it for the Indians and this land. But this context, like the quality of the film, is destined to be only black and white.
There are still many temptations in the film. Its generous shooting, along the footprints of the Amazon River, and exploring the extraordinary, courage and changes of the tribe are also charming enough. Through Kalamaka, a deified leftover tribe, many indigenous handwritings and hearts are linked, as if presenting an intangible heritage.
However, its rambling, even a little messy, does not form a strong chain of evidence, so it feels a certain kind of blunt splicing, paleness and powerlessness. If the exquisite pictures are matched with exquisite plots to get rid of weeds, it may be more in line with the viewing tastes of modern people. If there are too many thoughts and elements to express, it is bound to fail to achieve the perfection above simplicity.
When Kalamaka, who is still strong, told Evan that if you don't believe me, everything will be in vain after a half-life separation. Therefore, the theme of the film itself may be more permeated with a nostalgic sadness, which is of course excusable or taken for granted from the hearts of Indians.
The music in the film is very distinctive, mixed and low-pitched, diffused, and has a penetrating power, which is similar to Liu Wenzheng's singing "Orchid Grass" written by Hu Shi. Flowers...". It seems that the Indians and the Chinese do have some kind of spiritual harmony and mutual sympathy.
2016, May, 16
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