Caution; SPOILER
Although Rolf de Heer has made some oddball movies (Bad Boy Bubby for example) he has got more conventional of late (The Tracker) yet is still preoccupied by people on the margins of life. His protagonist here, Antonio Bolivar (Richard Dreyfuss), bearer of a famous South American surname, came from a poor village in the Andes to settle in a remote part of the Amazon region 40 years ago. He lived most of the intervening time with an Indian band after the early death of his wife from Malaria but has now moved into 'town', a wretched tiny village clinging to the side of the river.
There's one steamer every two months with a travelling dentist (Hugo Weaving) who does his extractions in public. The town is presided over by the bullying 'democratically elected' Mayor Agallo (Timothy Spall) with whom Antonio has an uneasy relationship, especially after his girl Josefina (Cathy Tyson) leaves him for Antonio . Rather late in life Antonio has commenced learning to read, though he has only pulp romantic fiction (provided by the dentist to practice on.)
Although he is well geared to life in the jungle Antonio is a troubled man, and when he becomes involved with hunting down a Jaguar which has taken to killing people the ghosts of his past come near to overwhelming him. But Antonio is a man of character and you just know he is going to make it.
Richard Dreyfuss is wholly convincing as Antonio, a man who does not expect a lot from life, but is sunny and genial nonetheless. It's one of those remarkable performances that puts out of your mind other roles the actor has played. Hugo Weaving and Timothy Spall give good support and there is almost a hypnotic performance by Victor Bottenbley as Nushino the Indian chief. The Jaguars were pretty good too.
The film was made in French Guiana, which must not have been easy, since it rains there about 11 months of the year, and the locales look authentic even if it's not exactly Amazonia. For some reason it has taken three years for this film to be released (apart from some film festival outings). In fact it hasn't been released in the US yet which is odd, with Dreyfuss in the lead role, Hugo Weaving in support and an almost mainstream story. There's no reason why it shouldn't do OK on the Art-house circuit at least it's not 'Fitzcarraldo'.
This movie put me in mind of the final part of 'A Handful of Dust' when distracted English aristocrat Tony Last is captured and held by an illiterate hermit in Guiana who lives with the Indians. The hermit (Alec Guinness in the film) gets him to read out loud Dickens every night. Perhaps literature is seen to best advantage in remote places. I don't know if the original author here, Luis Sepulveda, has ever read Evelyn Waugh, but there is a strange resonance here. Now, I suppose our hermits can have solar powered CD players which obviate the need for capturing unfortunate readers.
Although Rolf de Heer has made some oddball movies (Bad Boy Bubby for example) he has got more conventional of late (The Tracker) yet is still preoccupied by people on the margins of life. His protagonist here, Antonio Bolivar (Richard Dreyfuss), bearer of a famous South American surname, came from a poor village in the Andes to settle in a remote part of the Amazon region 40 years ago. He lived most of the intervening time with an Indian band after the early death of his wife from Malaria but has now moved into 'town', a wretched tiny village clinging to the side of the river.
There's one steamer every two months with a travelling dentist (Hugo Weaving) who does his extractions in public. The town is presided over by the bullying 'democratically elected' Mayor Agallo (Timothy Spall) with whom Antonio has an uneasy relationship, especially after his girl Josefina (Cathy Tyson) leaves him for Antonio . Rather late in life Antonio has commenced learning to read, though he has only pulp romantic fiction (provided by the dentist to practice on.)
Although he is well geared to life in the jungle Antonio is a troubled man, and when he becomes involved with hunting down a Jaguar which has taken to killing people the ghosts of his past come near to overwhelming him. But Antonio is a man of character and you just know he is going to make it.
Richard Dreyfuss is wholly convincing as Antonio, a man who does not expect a lot from life, but is sunny and genial nonetheless. It's one of those remarkable performances that puts out of your mind other roles the actor has played. Hugo Weaving and Timothy Spall give good support and there is almost a hypnotic performance by Victor Bottenbley as Nushino the Indian chief. The Jaguars were pretty good too.
The film was made in French Guiana, which must not have been easy, since it rains there about 11 months of the year, and the locales look authentic even if it's not exactly Amazonia. For some reason it has taken three years for this film to be released (apart from some film festival outings). In fact it hasn't been released in the US yet which is odd, with Dreyfuss in the lead role, Hugo Weaving in support and an almost mainstream story. There's no reason why it shouldn't do OK on the Art-house circuit at least it's not 'Fitzcarraldo'.
This movie put me in mind of the final part of 'A Handful of Dust' when distracted English aristocrat Tony Last is captured and held by an illiterate hermit in Guiana who lives with the Indians. The hermit (Alec Guinness in the film) gets him to read out loud Dickens every night. Perhaps literature is seen to best advantage in remote places. I don't know if the original author here, Luis Sepulveda, has ever read Evelyn Waugh, but there is a strange resonance here. Now, I suppose our hermits can have solar powered CD players which obviate the need for capturing unfortunate readers.