esrosedotblog

ECO-DAD

Today's Best NY Times 1176 Film can be seen as a coming of age film; an ecological tract; a son-dad movie; or the noble savage all rolled into one. And it is pretty good.

The 7 year old son of an engineer working to build a dam in the rain forest walks into the jungle and is 'stolen' by the 'invisible people'; an aboriginal tribe being edged out of their land.

John Boorman's The Emerald Forest (1985) is a thoroughly researched piece of work. Read the story at the link.

You need to bring a bit more than the usual 'suspension of disbelief' to this picture which, paradoxically, is based on a true story and actually has Boorman's son getting it on with being as much like a modern boy stolen by a primitive tribe as you can imagine.

When you think that we sit and identify with the most errant nonsense in many films that we see, it is weird that we would have trouble connecting with this one. How far we have come or gone?

There are times when the film has to cut to the chase as it takes a very long, peaceful time to evoke life in the forest. This is only a bit off putting as we want to have the crisis over anyway and get back to the way things were. Of course, this is a fantasy which cannot be fully realized. There is no way to go back. We can only make the most of what we have already fucked up.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.