The Green Inferno | Poisoned Paradise, Perfect Sendup
"Charles: Peru is dangerous, you can't just go invade a country because you see them as doing something immoral.
Justine: I know. I just think I should be doing something about the rainforest." - Green Inferno
"PABS Reporter: Today we are already on the threshold of conquering our galaxy, and in a not too distant tomorrow, we'll be considering the conquest of the universe, and yet man seems to ignore the fact that on this very planet there are still people living in the stone age and practicing cannibalism.
Primitive tribes isolated in a ruthless, hostile Environment, where the prevailing law is the survival of the fittest and this jungle which its inhabitants refer to, as 'The Green Inferno'." -Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
To understand Green Inferno one must understand the genre it is inspired by. The Cannibal Boom was a subgenre of exploitation films that grew in popularity in the '70s and '80s in Italian Cinema. Based on a earlier genre of mockumentary known as mondo(world) films, Cannibal films followed the basic premise of white people exploring the rainforest being generally shitty human beings and then getting eaten by cannibalistic indigenous tribes. It's important to understand that mondo filmmaking was used to highlight more taboo aspects of human society such as death, torture, and sex and these aspects trickled down into Cannibal films which included graphic depictions of animal cruelty and sexual assault. Like all genres there are movies that manage to create depth using, (or despite of), their genre trappings. TGI is a send up of this genre and specifically a homage to Cannibal Holocaust(1980)*, which despite its controversy is an influential classic and is considered by many to be the first found footage film. Roth does away with the more unsavory aspects of the genre, (namely all the rape and animal murder), while still playing strongly into the premise of the genre.
Along with other issues that cannibal films faced its important to consider the racial implications of the genre. While many of the films in the genre, (specifically CH and Cannibal Ferox(1981) which where the main inspirations), contained a strong anti-imperial and anti-colonial message there is still the issue of caricaturization, depicting supposed indigenous people by the racist stereotypes of colonialism. Personally I feel that the depictions of the native tribe in this movie was done with a great level of respect and much of the movie worked to humanize and add depth to the society, (much more so than in the original genre movies). Despite the fact that they ate people there was a palpable culture and customs of the indigenous people which is a great shade of separation from the coonish depictions of the natives in the original films. Like I've mentioned before many of the works had a subtext that the real monsters are the privileged white society and not the natives, (e.g Professor Monroe's "I wonder who the real cannibals are?"). In the same way that Deodato and Lenzi criticized colonialism Roth attempts to criticize the concept of slacktivism, championing for causes mostly as a form of self gratification with little realization or thought about one's effect on the issue. Whether this subtext or aversion exonerates the racial trappings of the genre is beyond the scope of my review however I recommend reading this article by Aaron Gell for Business Insider which delves into the topic in a nuanced and based manner.
THE GOOD STUFF
Our movie begins with a college student Justine who gets woken up by a bunch of annoying protestors who care about the poor or something gawd. She continues her day attending a anthropology class discussing the phenomenon of FGM and deciding that she should give a shit about something, namely by asking her classmate, Jonah (Aaron Burns), to join his activist group. Upon listening to the group's plans and realizing that the activist leader Alejandro(Ariel Levy) is like totes hawt she decides to pull a Kipling and go save the rainforest. The first half of the movie introduces us to a variety of characters including Daniel (Nicolas Martinez), your friendly local softboi and tech geek; The obligatory redheaded stoner, (this is a Eli Roth film after all), Lars(Daryl Sabara); and Amy and Samantha(played by Kirby Bliss Blanton and Magda Apanowicz respectively), who are in a lovely sapphic relationship together. In a twist of irony, the group is taken hostage by the very tribe they were trying to protect and that's when the real fun happens.
While the first half of the movie spends its time fleshing out a surprisingly sympathetic cast of characters the second half rips your bleeding heart out with some of the most intense murder scenes to befall a horror character. The Cannibal genre was defined by its torture porn and extreme violence and Roth has managed to capture the essence of the artform with the death scenes. The violence in the film is used with a surprising amount of deftness allowing for the extreme moments to stand out. The tension of this film is meticulous balanced between the intense extremes of hyper violence and Roth's unique mixture of camp and comedy. The progression of the film was incredibly enjoyable and their was a surprising amount of worldbuilding with the society and culture presented. That being said I can agree to the criticism that the ending was not as strong as it could be leaving off on a soft whimper as the credits rolled. That being said the actions of Justine followed in the footsteps of her progenitors,(namely Lorraine de Selle's Character in Cannibal Ferox), and unfortunately sometimes one can be boxed a bit too closely by the confines of one's medium.
One thing I truly enjoyed about the film was the incredible amount of characterization put into the movie for so many of the characters involved. With the exception of Alejandro, (honestly fuck that guy), our activists where surprise surprise, nice empathetic caring people. They had personalities and actively wanted to help each other. On the reverse side you had the indigenous people, (who are from a Amazonian farming village called Callanayuca), who despite the pridilation for long pork are shown in a sympathetic light. Painstakes are taken in the movie to show the day to day culture of the village between the way that they cook their meat and prepare food to the way they socialize and play. Much of the transitional periods of the film show montages of the villagers life. It should also be said that the acting was top notch especially considering how many of the interactions where non-verbal giving the language barrier between the two groups.
Filming was performed by Antonio Quercia(Aftershock(2012)). Taking a page from its progenitors the film included some absolutely spectacular moments of nature porn as the camera pans over the lush beauty of the jungle. Other scenes were intimately shot giving a hectic and claustrophobic feeling such as the crowd scene shown in the movie poster. Like the fluid script the filming was clean and accessible a clear contrast to the nauseating shaky cam of its inspiration. Among its clarity there is a innovativeness to the camerawork providing aesthetically pleasing cinematography. On a similar not the scoring was created by Manuel Riveiro, (who weirdly enough also worked as the composer for Aftershock). TGI is not a heavily scored movie that being said Riveiro pieces provide a uneasy ambience to the scenes. Many of the feeding scenes utilize tribal drumming on top of the traditional orchestral instruments. This stylistic choice also finds its way into both the opening and closing credits acting as another motif to the origins of the genre. Riveiro is clearly a skilled composer and the elegance of his pieces help heightened the tension without being showy. Overall the movie is incredible well produced.
The Green Inferno is what one should look for in a sendup. Playing true to the spirit and premise of the original genre while also taking a hard look at the culture and context the media existed in. Whether or not Eli Roth succeeding in creating a film without the racist undertones that permeated the cannibal boom is a matter of personal opinion however whether Roth created a fantastic film for both the gorehound and horror buff is without question.
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*Eli Roth stated in an interview with IGN that another inspiration for the film was the 1981 film Cannibal Ferox, which featured an anthropologist flying to Paraguay to prove that cannibalistic tribes are a cultural myth created by colonialist ideologies.
Also while I didn't mention it in the article, I was a bit miffed by some of the language used by Roth in the movie because of this I would love to shout out this fantastic Article by the Big Gay Horror Fan which discusses the topic.
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