a trip up the amazon river in glorious black and white
appropriately the film opens with a direct shot of the river
then panning up to a native standing motionless on the edge
he is donned with a loin cloth, feathers, necklace and piercings
a canoe bearing two people nudges into the bank at his feet
one - another native in western clothing paddling at the rear
the other - a bearded westerner laying prone in the middle
he is hauled out and a plea from his companion for help
he has fallen ill and needs some traditional medicine
at first karmakate refuses as he distrusts white people
the german grunberg convinces him he can be trusted
and so a strong medicinal smoke is blown into his nostrils
they talk - seems grunberg has spent time with karmakate's tribe
he believing them to have been wiped out and the last one alive
he agrees to join the crew and the three of them head up river
the quest is to find the source of the mythical yakuna plant
we see stunning scenery and the river has a strong presence
they pull into the remnants of an abandoned rubber plantation
karmakate flies into a rage as this product has brought havoc
sad scenes as a disfigured native emerges to protect the trees
begging to be shot to escape the despair of his destroyed life
a theme now emerging of the destruction of traditional lifestyles
then we fast forward to an american following in grunberg's path
this some 30 years later and he (evan) encounters an older karmakate
parallel discussions and he using grunberg's notes seeks the yakuna
interesting story-telling and quite enthralling with it - i'm hooked
we jump back to grunberg's quest as they pull into at a mission
the priest there dressing and training native children in a choir
a suggestion of some other nasty happenings in the name of god
again - white man's imposition of their culture on a naive people
when the priest is seen whupping a child karmakate reacts badly
and our trio have to depart quickly but the point is clearly made
in the parallel story evan and karmakate seen paddling on the river
they also pull into the mission now run by a delusional spaniard
he has the enslaved natives believing he is the real son of god
it all feels like apocalypse now with strange pagan-like rituals
karmakate then laces their soup with hallucinogenic powder
mad scenes then as the leader instructs his flock to eat him
followed by desperate scenes of natives fleeing from arrivals
the colombians - the invaders and destroyers of native lifestyles
evan and karmakate escape and paddle further to a sacred site
a huge ancient rock not dislike uluru that they climb to it's peak
and there - the elusive yakuna flower - karmakate grinds it up
evan takes the drug and then - whoa - we are all tripping
colour objects burst onto the screen and trippy music plays
it could have finished there for me but some final b&w scenes
evan seen descending and re-entering the canoe - the end
credits running confirming the authenticity of the story
and the fact that many amazon tribes have been lost
white man - again - so sad - but such a fine film...
