Transfixing, profound, and metaphysical, Ciro Guerra's Embrace of the Serpent is a film about the relationship which unfolds between Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman who is the last survivor of his people, and two scientists, each of which is linked by their search of Yakruna, a mythical Amazonian plant which is believed to have extreme healing powers. Structurally, Embrace The Serpent is in the vein of a road movie, following Karamakate and the scientists as they venture up the river, having a few memorable encounters with indigenous tribes and European settlers. Through these interactions, Embrace The Serpent begins to reveal itself, using its characters to deconstruct colonialism and the oppressive nature of man. Spanning 40 years and jumping back and forth between Karamakate's two distinct encounters, Embrace the Serpent takes place in a space where spiritualism and intellectualism are far from mutually exclusive concepts, a film that is an ode to all the lost cultures of the Amazon, many of which were extinguished by European Imperialism. Through these characters, Embrace the Serpent reveals the arrogance of man, where cultural assimilation is expected, with the European settlers being driven by monetary possession that shows little regard for the spiritual teachings of the Amazon tribes. Science vs. Religion, intellectualism vs. barbarism, Embrace The Serpent argues these are not exclusive, using the juxtaposition of the indigenous with the European settlers, capturing the similarities and differences of these two distinct cultures while constantly reminding the viewer that there is barbarism and kindness inherent in all of humanity, regardless of these cultural distinctions. The film also seems to have something to say about Individualism, arguing that man can not be a slave to the culture or structure one inhabits. The goodness and kindness of man shouldn't be prohibited or restricted by societies cultural teachings as a whole, and perhaps Embrace The Serpent's greatest quality is its ability to transcend these cultural distinctions while reaching a metaphysical level of the importance of kindness in humanity. From a technical standpoint, Embrace of The Serpent has a subtlety meditative quality, with cinematography that brings the Amazon to life, giving nature itself weight in this story, almost being its own character. At its core, Embrace The Serpent is about the ignorance and arrogance of man, which argues against cultural assimilation and this desire for everyone to share the same worldview. Embrace The Serpent is borderline metaphysical in how it captures the importance but also insignificance of these cultural distinctions, arguing that various cultures, customs, and crees only aid in helping humanity as a whole, as regardless of the perceived notions, each culture, through kindness, can and learn and teach each other.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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