Event
Embrace of the Serpent
Nominated for Best Foreign Film – 2016 Academy Awards
Winner – Art Cinema Award, Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival
Werner Herzog meets Heart of Darkness in the latest film from Colombian newcomer Ciro Guerra (The Wind Journeys).
Meshing the lyrical majesty of the Amazon with the devastating consequences of western colonialism, Embrace of the Serpent encompasses no fewer than nine languages and four decades in its depiction of dual treks through the jungle, as two men in different eras embark on the same search for a legendary herbal cure for their grave illnesses.
This atmospheric, evocative film – inspired by true accounts from 20th century explorers – is “stunning…At once blistering and poetic.”
"CRITICS PICK....a fantastical mixture of myth and historical reality, [the film] shatters lingering illusions of first-world culture as more advance than any other...Beautiful isn't a strong enough word to describe its scenes...'Embrace of the Serpent' is potentially life-changing."
"A legitimate STUNNER. Beautiful and FEROCIOUS."
"A poetic corrective to images of indigenous peoples...[it] turns the traditional 'adventure into the Amazon' yarn on its head. An ALL-AROUND VISUAL FEAST that's well worth the trek."
"A soulful, strange and stunning discovery. Somewhere between a rebel yell and a lullaby, a primal scream and a Homeric lament, 'Embrace of the Serpent' is...wildly original work...[the film] unfolds with a stunning directorial sureness and a layered intelligence"
"the latest visual astonishment from the gifted Colombian writer-director Ciro Guerra...At once blistering and poetic...a stately, striking panorama"
"A visually mesmerizing exploration of man, nature, and the destructive powers of colonialism...an impressively realized...knockout black-and-white cinematography and an array of breathtaking locations"
