"Embrace of the Serpent" is an Oscar-nominated movie from Columbia. It also has many very positive reviews on IMDb, so it's obvious many folks like the movie. As for me, I was completely ambivalent about it and not especially impressed.

When the film begins, you'll notice that it was filmed in black & white. This is an unusual choice but the cinematography is still very nice. However, the opening scene has a lot of snakes--the sort of shots that will make folks with a phobia about the creatures incredibly uncomfortable. I like snakes but realize a significant number of folks don't...though the word 'serpent' is in the title!

The story is told in an unusual manner--with the same native man being shown decades apart assisting two different white scientists as they go in search of some plant that supposedly has curative powers. Throughout all this, the native dispenses his wisdom and the film seems to say, at least at times, that natives are good and outsiders are bad (sort of like "Avatar"). It's apparently based on some strange journals by some real life folks...including the super-weird portion involving the bizarro religious cult. However, to me this just wasn't especially interesting or entertaining. Strange, yes...but not something I really cared for one way or the other.

In early 20th century, Theodor von Martius is a German ethnographer from University of Tübingen cataloging the tribes of the Amazon. He gets sick and is brought to shaman Karamakate by his native guide Manduca. Karamakate distrusts the white men who cruelly run their rubber plantations or missionaries wiping out the native culture. He believes that he's the last of his tribe until Theo tells him about an isolated group of survivors. He guides them back to his former home to find a yakruna plant. About thirty years later, Evan arrives looking for Karamakate. He tells him that Theo died later and Manduca brought his diaries back to Germany to be published. Karamakate claims to be suffering from memory loss and only a hollowed shell copy called chullachaqui.

The river journey is something like the Heart of Darkness. It portrays a harrowing vision of the struggles of the native community. It is enthralling. It is poetic. The characters are compelling. The only minor drawback is the ending which gets overextended. There is probably a quicker and more compelling way to wrap up the movie after what happened in the village. I like the surrealism in the end but it's just a little long.

"El abrazo de la serpiente" or "Embrace of the Serpent" is a Colombian movie from last, but it took until now that the film made it to German cinemas. The writer and director is the rising star (mid 30s now) of the South American country's film: Ciro Guerra and he made this film based on the narration of the people depicted in here. It is a black-and-white film from start to finish and that means a massive 125 minutes. So it is certainly not a watch for everybody. Apart from the difference in (lack of color) and the bright colors in "Apocalypse Now", this one here reminded me occasionally of the Kubrick classic, especially in terms of style and in particular during the scenes that included footage of the indigenous tribes. Of course, we are talking about two entirely different areas of the planet here, but there were parallels in my opinion.

One aspect I often struggle with is when there are jumps in time on many occasions and there are quite a few in this film too. And they are massive as the gap is over 30 years. But I still liked it the way Guerra did it and that means quite something as I am a bit allergic to the topic of non-chronological films. Still it was working here. Maybe the reason was that there were really not that many character in this film at all, let alone main characters. And it also helped that the male main character played a crucial part in both times. And all the actors did a good job too.

I am far from saying this was a really great film or even perfect and I also may think the Oscar nomination was a bit too much, but then again an inferior film won, so it's perfectly fine that this one here got nominated. There were a couple weak moments here and there such as the ending scenes that almost had a fantasy touch to it that was supposed to be the character's death I believe, but it did not fit the film at all unfortunately in my opinion. And the movie could have been maybe slightly shorter and it would have helped as here and there it dragged a bit. Maybe keep it at 100-105 minutes max and cut out some of the less relevant and interesting sequences. But it's nowhere near a level where it really would have hurt the film overall. It is still a convincing achievement and I recommend the watch. Go see it if you can.