Embrace of the Serpent
Embrace of the Serpent
Colombia’s first- ever nominee for a best foreign language Oscar is also unlike anything you’ve seen before. The opening scenes, set in 1909, follow German ethnographer Theodor von Martius ( Jan Bijvoet) as he follows the winding path of the Amazon in search of a fabled plant that may save his life.
It’s unclear exactly what is ailing Theo. It could be a tropical disease or a sickness of the spirit; there is much talk about how he is unable to dream, and the region contains many plants whose psychotropic properties produce vivid dreams indeed.
Theo is accompanied by Manduca ( Yauenkü Migue), his faithful guide, and by Karamakate, the last member of a tribe that has been all but wiped out in the unrest caused by the rubber boom and the influx of Europeans. Karamakate is also the link to the film’s parallel plot, in which another explorer, Evan (Brionne Davis), arrives decades l ater in search of the same plant.
Embrace of the Serpent, loosely based on the diaries of real- life ethnographers, is a quiet film — unlike fervent missionaries, it refuses to preach. And the closing scene, reminiscent of a very different trip from a sciencefiction classic, leaves us to make up our own minds about what happens when cultures collide.
Embrace of the Serpent opens Feb. 19 in Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Ottawa and Waterloo; March 2 in Vancouver; March 11 in Montreal; March 15 on demand; and March 31 in Winnipeg. ΩΩΩ ½