Embrace of the Serpent is in the grand tradition of enigmatic commercial films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives: not easily described, not easily interpreted. The black-and-white imagery is striking, and the storytelling is dreamlike. There are moments of graceful lyricism — and shocking violence. Directed and co-written by Colombia’s Ciro Guerra, this spellbinding film was nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
In interlocking sequences, Embrace of the Serpent depicts two river voyages through the Colombian Amazon region. Traveling on both is Karamakate, a shaman who is the last member of his indigenous tribe. He is played as an angry young man by Nilbio Torres and as a serene older man by Antonio Bolivar Salvador, one of the only survivors of the Amazon’s Ocaina people. Both performances are remarkable.
In scenes from the early journey, Karamakate is approached by the German explorer Theodor Koch-Grunberg (Jan Bijvoet). And in the later scenes, he encounters a visitor from the United States: Richard Evans Schultes (Brionne Davis), or Evan. Koch-Grunberg and Schultes actually explored the Amazon region, and the film was inspired by their journals.
Both seek Karamakate’s help finding a mysterious psychedelic plant. Theodor is ill, and Karamakate, a healer, periodically treats him by blowing medicine into his nose. The treatments make Theodor shudder violently.
The film vividly shows the consequences of Western encroachment in the region. Karamakate, who is all but nude in his scenes, is dismissive of Theodor’s assistant, an indigenous man named Manduca (Yauenkü Migue), because of his Western clothes. Manduca has scars from being whipped at his former job working for rubber barons, and in one disturbing scene, we see the profound effects of the rubber industry on a frightened local.
There are troubling sequences about the influence of Western religion. At a Christian mission in the jungle, a priest shares the gospel with children — and fiercely whips a young boy after he learns a bit of herbal folklore from Karamakate. Later, in the film’s most chilling scenes, Evan and Karamakate encounter a cult led by a sadistic Christian apostate. This self-declared messiah, who may remind you of Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, is cruel to his followers. Distorting Christian tradition, he also demands that they eat him.
Then there is the work of the Western explorers. Their mission to describe and catalog the region amuses Karamakate, and sometimes infuriates him. He teases them for carrying around their specimens and at one dramatic moment tosses one of Evan’s cases into the river.
The explorers remind me of the William Hurt character in Altered States, a man of science who, investigating an indigenous psychedelic tradition, samples the wares a bit too enthusiastically. Theodor and Evan seek out Karamakate in part because his knowledge of the jungle will help them in their taxonomical work — but also, I think, because they believe his experience as a mystic will help them gain a more profound, intuitive understanding of the region.
Throughout the journey, the explorers and Karamakate travel together in a spirit of collaboration, but also mutual incomprehension. In a telling exchange, Karamakate and Evan disagree on how many sides a river has. Two, the explorer says. Karamakate’s take is more nuanced.