Embrace of the Serpent (2015)
The story of the relationship between Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and last survivor of his people, and two scientists who work together over the course of 40 years to search the Amazon for a sacred healing plant. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Ciro Guerra
Written By: Ciro Guerra, Jacques Toulemonde Vidal
Starring: Jan Bijvoet, Brionne Davis, Nilbio Torres, Antonio Bolivar, Nicolás Cancino, Luigi Sciamanna, Edward Mayo
AKA: El abrazo de la serpiente
Country: Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela
Where to Stream
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Embrace of the Serpent belongs to 25 collections
1. Post-1960s black & white photography (collaborative: moderated by djross - 21 stars)
2. Humanity and the Natural World (collaborative: moderated by paulofilmo - 18 stars)
3. Best of criticker: Drama (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 18 stars)
4. Best Foreign Film Oscar Nominees (collaborative: moderated by snallygaster - 8 stars)
5. Best by different standards (public: sesito71 - 6 stars)
6. South America (collaborative: moderated by td888 - 4 stars)
7. Anthropology (collaborative: moderated by djross - 4 stars)
8. Capsules, guest reviews, list candidates... (366weirdmovies) (collaborative: moderated by sesito71 - 4 stars)
9. Average Percentile >70 (collaborative: moderated by peyrin - 4 stars)
10. Cross-cultural (collaborative: moderated by paulofilmo - 3 stars)
11. Jungle Movies (collaborative: moderated by TrixRabbi - 3 stars)
12. 88th Academy Award Nominations (collaborative: moderated by Johnny Mo - 3 stars)
13. Best of criticker: Adventure (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 1 star)
14. Best of criticker: 2015 (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 1 star)
15. Academy Awards Foreign Language Film shortlist ~o~ (collaborative: moderated by 5Z5qjRCfM2 - 1 star)
16. vitamine.cineville.nl (collaborative: moderated by amsterdam020 - 1 star)
17. 35th İstanbul Film Festival (collaborative: moderated by cambel)
18. TOP 100 of the past 100 years (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr)
19. Sonhos Públicos (collaborative: moderated by pmpfe)
20. 3: High Priority (Not in English) (public: KasperL)
21. Mr. Hallenbeck's Blu-Ray Collection (public: MrHallenbeck)
22. Availability: Filmstriben (public: KasperL)
23. 2010s watchlist (public: kendell)
24. Cast aAwayAdam (public: rnest)
25. 2010 (public: asperastrum)
Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 5 | theficionado | 75 74th |
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An elegiac, clear-eyed consideration of the knowledges swept away by Western global conquest: What responsibility do we have to maintain the legacy of others? It addresses the experiential quality of knowledge: It's one thing to know the Cohiuano rite of passage, another to wake from a vivid hallucination on the top of a goddamn mountain & try to get home. An implicit critique of Cartesian dualisms, of the decoupling of signifier & signified, of amodal rather than embodied theories of cognition.
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| 3 |  |
Kojiless | 88 90th |
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An excellent journey (both concretely and metaphorically) through a breathtaking environment (both corporeal and existential) by a pair and a half of astounding characters (both lovable and despised). And most of all, the use of black and white takes nothing away from the pure color of the jungle. Bonus: no need to change the title when the porn version is (eventually) made.
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| 3 |  |
astrakhan | 78 57th |
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A beautifully-shot film whose setting and characters give plenty of insight into the cultures and beliefs of the indigenous tribes, as well as colonial history. Ultimately the film is not quite satisfying, narratively, as both white mens' journeys come to somewhat intangible conclusions. The film's overall message feels rather ethereal and cryptic, even if the themes of man vs nature, new vs old, science vs religion are plain to see. Visually stunning but not half as fun as e.g. Apocalypto.
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| 2 |  |
schnofel | 50 38th |
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The film isn't doing its mysticism any favors by being so flat and unmusical, so affectless in its received tale about the white man's destructive legacy.
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| 2 |  |
amerigo | 95 98th |
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It's a meditative serene song that figuratively (and literally) moves past the Heart of Darkness. An intriguing babel of languages and perspectives, a journey to something sacred with explicit references to a medley of great art ranging German expressionist cinema to Josef Conrad. In short, a wonderful, inspiring film.
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| 2 | sellis | 84 72nd |
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Delivers on all of its narrative promises, but didn't strike me as profound. Gorgeous black and white cinematography, pronouncing moments with fluidity and grace. The dual narrative reinforces the exploration of duality in its many forms. The revelation that the film is based on true accounts in hindsight makes the film feel like it needs to compare Amazonian cultures to European in order resonate with modern audiences. Context aside, this is an accomplished visceral experience.
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| 2 |  |
Darren | 98 99th |
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Dead Man for the 21st century??!
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| 2 | Yedi | 100 70th |
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that movie was actually took me away from my daily problems and anxieties to unknown world. director of this movie can easily be considered as very good at storytelling and emotional transfer. i feel very uncomfortable after the movie in the sense that i have lots of things detracting me from freedom
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| 1 |  |
djross | 55 52nd |
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Shades of Conrad, KOYAANISQATSI, FITZCARRALDO, 2001, a high school history lesson and probably a bit of Viveiros de Castro, this has at least some thematic complexity, but, as it unfolds, it proves to be a case of diminishing returns, even as it challenges and invites the audience to open up pathways to some new cosmological embrace. Despite impressive moments, it seems aesthetically a little bare (admittedly, I was watching this in a low-grade format).
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| 1 |  |
cowfrappe | 71 61st |
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Well-made and unpredictable, if often slow.
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| 1 |  |
Judo Koala | 77 64th |
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One of the more interesting experiments in postcolonial cinema, though many of its racial politics remain too on-the-nose for me. Can't help but feel I've seen this narrative a thousand times.
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| 1 |  |
VinegarBob | 90 96th |
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Refreshingly understated road-trip, where the road's a river and the trip is both the journey and the goal. It's terrifically well shot, deals with it's themes subtly, and encourages an introspection in the viewer without being preachy. Also the shifts between the two parallel journeys decades apart are seamlessly executed, and cleverly illustrate both the immutability of the natural world and man's steady and destructive encroachment into it.
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| 1 |  |
Seethruskin | 7 99th |
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Wow
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| 1 |  |
Hofschneider | 93 95th |
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This movie is too big for me.
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| 1 |  |
loc42 | 75 68th |
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I let myself go with white man's journey to the wholeness and unity of the universe and it gave me a feeling of greatness if not sublime. In that sense this movie could be far more than what it is, if the visual language and storytelling were also celebrating the multiplicity of nature and Pre-columbian people's ways of life, solely relying on b&w doesn't rescue the style and sometimes it got too didactic and lecture-like. But still it rests with you as a voyage, like "Dead Man" of Jarmusch.
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| 1 |  |
Adam P-D | 70 85th |
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Road trip!
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| 1 |  |
dardan | 72 77th |
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The desire of the white man to understand, control, exploit and ultimately overcome nature is given expression via both the queeste for a plant and the domination of the people revering it, or at least did so before having been corrupted by embracing the serpent. Slights towards regressivism in its biblical, ecological Koyaanisqatsian themes, a nuisance only due the elements conveying that being a bit shoehorned.
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| 1 |  |
luord | 71 72nd |
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Too long, the beautiful cinematography and capable direction make up for it.
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| Average Percentile 71.15% from 593 Ratings |  |