Embrace of the Serpent

Embrace of the Serpent deserves a special mention of the movies I watched at the 8th Bengaluru International Film Festival. Loved the way this movie delineates the Amazon, Culture, People, their belief, their love for the spirit called LIFE transcending from reality to fantasy effortlessly. Though its loosely based on the diaries of the 2 scientist, the movie gives a collective account of what it would have been to witness those times and see the true dark side of the Colonial enforcements and the resulting destruction of culture, people, nature on a wide range of a scale. The rich monochrome frames simply captivates ones mind and more importantly, the lack of background scores at times adds the muscle to the already strong Amazon backdrop. The forest & the river has this captivating power which sucks you into it and makes one feel as if he/she is also a part of the journey through time. Those handpicked tribal actors are out of the world truly - especially both the young and the old Karamakate - inspirational stuff. Certainly not to be missed.