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| (A DVD of the Movie) |
Made in 1980 by the Italian filmaker Ruggero Deodato,Cannibal Holocaust(uncut/unrated) is one of the most controversial films ever made in the history of world cinema.Replete with extremely graphic scenes of sexual violence,cannibalism and ‘real’killing of live animals ,the movie is banned in more than ninety countries across the globe.Within a week of it’s Milan premiere(in 1980) the prints of this movie were confiscated by the Italian court and director Deodato accused of Murder as the court mistook it for a real ‘snuff film’ and that the actors werekilled in the course of it’s making!
The story begins with us being told about the 4 enthusiastic American docu film makers who had gone missing in the Amazon rainforests while they were on an assignment to make a film on the last existing Cannibal tribes.Anthropologist Monroe(Robert Kerman)ventures into the rainforests in search of the film crew a couple of years later.He comes across Yacumos,a Cannibal tribe and pretty soon he realises that there are a couple of other similar tribes as well;theShamatari and Yamomamos.Monroe manages to befriend one of them and in the process he finds out the atrocities committed by the film crew on the native tribes and their eco- system.The scientist soon discovers the decomposed remains of the film makers and the 16 mm film reels that they had used.Monroe takes part in a Cannibalic ritual with the tribe and gets the film reels in return with which he boards back to Newyork.A local Tv station wants to air the footage that Monroe had recovered but he insists them on watching the whole uncut version of it before getting it aired.
What we see next is the 40 minute long ‘footage’(titled-Green Inferno)that the film crew had captured in the Amazon.In other words this exactly is the point from which the movie becomes extremely graphic and disturbing to the core.The regular readers of this blog might be knowing that I have never been a fan of torture porn flicks like Saw,Hostel or Salo:The 120 days of Sodom .What makes Cannibal Holocaust different from the afore mentioned flicks is that in this Movie everything shown on screen seem so real that the viewer never feels that he is witnessing cruelty just for the sake of cruelty.
Though the movie is just about 90 mins long ,it took me around 120 mins(the ‘extra time’ attributed to the 4-5 short breaks of 10-20 mins each whichI took in between ) to finish watching it.So graphic and gross are some sequences(especially ‘the green inferno’docu sequences in the latter half) that I sincerely don’t think any ‘normal’ human being would be able to watch this extremely violent movie at a stretch.Then why bother to watch it at all,you might think.Well,coz once you have started watching ‘TCH’ the movie slowly grows on you and you won’t really feel like switching the DVD player off until you found out what had happened to the 4 missing American docu film makers.
There are several bizzare and gross sequences in the second half/found footage(Green Inferno).The abortion scene,the impalement sequence,the overtly long rape scenes in the pre climactic and the climactic portions are only a few among them.Though I could sit through the majority of them ,’the turtle butchering scene’ was one which I couldn’t stand at all.This was one episode which I believe was totally unwanted in the movie.The grainy,over exposed 16 mm feel of the docu footage adds to the scare factor of the ‘Green inferno’ footage which undoubtedly is a testimony to the sheer genius of Ruggero Deodato.The hand held camera shots in the climactic portions are also nicely done. Riz Ortolani's music suited the mood of the film.What we have to remember here is that ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ is a 32 year oldmovie made in a pre CGI era.But still what amuses me more is the fact that none of the successors of CH,be it the 1995 Blairwitch Project or the much recent Paranormal Activity franchise were even half as frightening as this 1980 flick.
Well after reading all this if you feel that the movie is all about graphic violence ,sexual depravity and cannibalism I am sorry to say that you have gone terribly wrong.If one is ready to overlook the repulgnant images and the violent content of the movie he will definitely get the loud and clear statements that the movie wishes to make.It asks pertinent questions about superiority,about being civilised and savage and on sensationalism.A keen observer will also notice that in Cannibal Holocaust Ruggero Deodato has also asked the same question which James Cameron raised in Avatar 30 years later.But all these positive aspects of the movie went largely un noticed by the most who saw the film as all they could see in the film was the extreme violence in it.
Bottomline:On the whole,Cannibal Holocaust(unrated) is an extremely scary film,one of it’s kind.The movie meant for a mature audience is definitely not for the faint hearted.Watch it if you dare!
Also read:Stanley ka Dabba;the sweetest Movie that I have ever seen!
Also read:Stanley ka Dabba;the sweetest Movie that I have ever seen!
-nikhimenon 2012.(You are not allowed to copy, any part of this blog and use it in your blog, article, "email forward" or any other non-commercial creative work unless you give me credit and provide the original URL)
