Plot
A New York University professor returns from a rescue mission to the Amazon rainforest with the footage shot by a lost team of documentarians who were making a film about the area's local cannibal tribes.
Release Year: 1980
Rating: 6.0/10 (20,578 voted)
Director:
Ruggero Deodato
Stars: Robert Kerman, Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen
Storyline A New York anthropologist named Professor Harold Monroe travels to the wild, inhospitable jungles of South America to find out what happened to a documentary film crew that disappeared two months before while filming a documentary about primitive cannibal tribes deep in the rain forest. With the help of two local guides, Professor Monroe encounters two tribes, the Yacumo and the Yanomamo. While under the hospitality of the latter tribe, he finds the remains of the crew and several reels of their undeveloped film. Upon returning to New York City, Professor Monroe views the film in detail, featuring the director Alan Yates, his girlfriend Faye Daniels, and cameramen Jack Anders and Mark Tomaso. After a few days of traveling, the film details how the crew staged all the footage for their documentary by terrorizing and torturing the natives. Despite Monroe's objections, the television studio Pan American still wishes to air the footage as a legitimate documentary...
Cast: Robert Kerman
-
Harold Monroe
Francesca Ciardi
-
Faye Daniels
Perry Pirkanen
-
Jack Anders
Luca Barbareschi
-
Mark Tomaso
(as Luca Giorgio Barbareschi)
Salvatore Basile
-
Chaco Losojos
Ricardo Fuentes
-
Felipe Ocanya
Carl Gabriel Yorke
-
Alan Yates
(as Gabriel Yorke)
Paolo Paoloni
-
Chief NY Executive
Lionello Pio Di Savoia
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Executive
(as Pio Di Savoia)
Luigina Rocchi
-
Native
Trivia: Ruggero Deodato reviewed hours upon hours of real snuff/execution footage to create "The Last Road To Hell" Sequence. He later remarked that some of the footage he watched showed up in the "Faces Of Death" videos, a lot of which was rejected because it seemed fake when he saw it.
Goofs:
Continuity:
When the crew first find the impaled native girl, her legs hang down limply, but in later shots her legs are crossed at the ankles.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Reporter:
Man is omnipotent; nothing is impossible for him. What seemed like unthinkable undertakings yesterday are history today. The conquest of the moon for example: who talks about it anymore? 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.
User Review
Remarkable. What a film!!!
Rating: 10/10
I cant believe some people have scathed this great film. It deserves a
lot higher rating.
I got this movie out thinking it was going to be a brainless splatter
fest. But after watching it in completion I was bowled over ..I wasn't
expecting to be challenged by its visuals as well as with the
sociological lessons and questions it raised.
The film is real, genuine and honest to the subject topic: 'Barbarity'
can be innate in all humans.
It can be argued that humans coming into the homo-sapiens stage of
evolution survived and expanded because of what is now considered
barbarous savage ways. Savagery was a survival tool. We came from
barbarity...and to an extent we still are savages.
Though the acting is poor in most places ...the film director portrays
cannabilism and barbarism ...and portrays it rather intelligently.
Obvious connotations can be made to Blair Witch Project. I'm sure the
crew that made BWP was inspired by this movie.
The film follows a Professor investigating the disappearance of an
American film team (3 guys and girl) that went into the jungle of South
America to film a documentary about the native cannibals.
The Professor with a couple of jungle assistants venture into the
jungle to trace the lost Americans footsteps. He manages to get on the
trail and slowly uncovers the grizzly ways of the jungle tribes! By
carefully befriending these natives he captures the lost film reels and
returns back to his skyscraper clad conurbation.
In amongst the film there is the media business cogs turning. The
dilemma of TV executives battling with the Professor to air the once
lost footage on TV for the viewing public. The professor is reluctant.
The professor seems the only person possessed with moral understanding
and compassion throughout the film ..everyone else it seems is after
ratings, fame, money or blood.
The film commences its ending by playing back the raw footage of what
the expedition team filmed...and it is shocking. Questions arise: Who
is committing the real 'evil' savagery here?
As for the animal cruelty scenes: Yes they are real and shocking. But
should it be anymore shocking than the beef burger that is served up in
McDonalds. Cows are slaughtered everyday. Perhaps one needs to watch a
bovine neck getting slit before they take it for granted they are
eating a nice juicy steak on their plate. The film portrays the reality
of human meat consumption...and yes all kinds of animals are killed for
the human appetite, especially in the wild - someone will do it! For
those who dispute this film on these grounds 'Can you handle life?'
This stuff still goes on regardless of whether u see it happen or not.
This film is absolutely brilliant. A cult classic. I can see it making
a revival...but don't know when...perhaps in some years time.
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