| Cannibal Holocaust pt. 2 |
| As if things weren't nasty enough, the film takes a definite gruesome turn at this point. Here is where the film makes its case for legitmacy. Monroe watches the footage of Yates's expedition, and is digusted by the film maker's unrelenting brutality. We watch the footage with them, and are (hopefully) equally as disgusted at their behavior. The problem is, how should Deodato explain what they saw? He would really lose credibility if he 'chickened out' and didn't show this with the unflinching realism he used. The movie simply wouldn't be as timeless as it proves to be today. Well, Deodato shows it all, and in the process is guilty of the same bahvior he's condeming. There is much to talk about in the movie, but the main point always boils down to - were the atrocities commited by Deodato and Co. really worth the social statement they were trying to make? At this point in the film it's more difficult to say, so right now I'll finish the summary and address this issue afterwards. |
| Before we are assaulted with the exploits of the film crew, we get to know a little more about them through their previous work. We see shocking footage of realistic looking executions. I remember seeing this in the theater with a friend who had never seen the movie before; he leaned over to me and asked if that was real. It looks unsettlingly real. After the short film is done, one of the television executives tells them that it was in fact all staged. Yates went as far as to pay some soldiers to do a 'bit of acting'. On a side note, in case you're wondering, yes the footage used in this part of Cannibal Holocaust was fake, not documentary footage as some have speculated. |
| So, now the audience joins Professor Monroe and the group of television executives who funded the project. From the onset, Monroe is dead set against releasing this footage, while the execs of course, only see dollar signs. |
| The film crew takes a similar path as Monroe did earlier in the film (of course afterwards chronologically). We soon learn why the natives were so wary of Monroe when he arrived. After facing some jungle hardships that are typical of Italian cannibal films (spiders, traps etc) they really show how far they will go for the 'real' story. They immediately assert their superiority over the savages, treating them worse than most would treat animals. This discription doesn't sound like much, but on the screen it's unrelentingly brutal (an unsettling example would be vivisection of a tiny muskrat). Before encountering the Yamamomo they the comes across the Yacumo village. The Yacumo aren't cannibals, and therefore not what the crew is looking for. They slaughter several of the natives, burn their village, and interestingly enough shoot a pig that the natives were saving for a meal. Once again, I can't stress enough how unsettling all this is when thrown in your face in gruesome detail. The pig is of particular interest, since the crew gives a little speech ob survival of the fittest. This mentality along with the potential for world wide fame seems to be what drives the crew on into what seems like sheer madness. I've heard criticisms of this aspect of the film, that the characters lose any grip on sanity almost with no provocation. I think that some of that simply wasn't caught on the 'documentary' film, and that a lot of that was simply in the characters. They saw the natives as a lag in evolution, more animal than man. As the dominant species, they took the power that they considered to be rightfully theirs. |
| Eventually, they continue on deeper into the jungle in search of the Yamamomo. Along the way the see several signs of the rigid expectations they have about the sexual exploits of female members of the tribe. The first of which is provoked by the crew themselves. They happen upon a female Yamamomo and the three men take turns raping her. One does his thing, while one holds her down, and another operates the camera. Faye violently, trying to stop them. Her motives don't seem as pure as it seems though. I suspect that part of her didn't like seeing her boyfriend raping a villager, she rationalized this by screaming for them to stop shooting this, that they were wasting film on porno. On the next film reel, the rape victim is found in the most infamous situation from the movie. She has an approximately 10 foot pole going through her lower half and out her mouth. This is one of the most realistic setpieces I've ever seen. It's shown in gruesome close up detail as the crew see this as the jackpot for the documentary. It's never revealed in the movie if this was the way the Yamamomo dealt with her because she was raped by the white people (again, aluding to the value of virginity, or at least a monogamous sexual life) or staged by the crew (furthering the point of the excesses taken for a sensationalistic piece). Regardless of the ambiguity of that particular scene, both points function towards the whole of the film, and both points are made several times over throughout the film. As for the sexual laws enforced by the tribal society, not scene revolted me as much as the forced abortion. A real pregnant woman was used and a doll was substituted for the doomed fetus. This scene is absolutely brutal, but may be slightly easier to watch since you can tell yourself that it's fake. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the appalling disembowlment of a live turtle. This is probably one of the most notoriously distastefull scenes in the history of cinema. In the present context though (of course, in one of the most notoriously distastefull films in the history of cinema) it is indeed one of the most powerfull statements and one of the movies trump cards. For me, this was what pushed the film completely over the edge, they had gone way too far. Unfortunately though, to have the film carry substantial weight behind its message, that's exactly what it needed to do. Once again, the film starts chasing its own tail - pointing out the unethical tactics of sensational media while indulging in the most extreme example. |
| The film begins to draw to a close with the megalomaniacal film makers capturing their own demise at the hands of the Yamamomo. This is some brutal, brutal stuff. What's interesting though, is there is some dark sort of satisfaction in watching these people get taken down to size. On the base level, it's easy to watch and say they're getting what they deserve or what goes around comes around. On another level though, this is one of the more disturbing scenes in that it doesn't seem all that disturbing. This serves as one of the stronger metaphors in the film. Once again, this is in no way lightweight stuff, but for me it didn't feel that heavy after all I had been through in the previous 90 minutes. The obvious conclusion here is that the relentless exploitation of violence in the media is desensatising us. Cannibal Holocaust took it to the extreme for me though, a place I wouldn't want to revisit anytime soon. It made a frank, shocking, ugly, and brutal slaughter of human beings seem like a breath of fresh air in comparison to what they were showing us just a short time earlier. Deodato worked well not to pull any punches with that scene, but makes an even stronger point by showing that explicit cannabalism isn't even that disturbing after all that we've been through. |
| The film finally wraps up back at the television studio. I found it interesting that this last scene seems to be what put them over the edge. The sensational violence that shocked all of us silly was like gold to them, until it was brought a little to close to home. After watching the final reel, it is ordered that the film be burned. Monroe wanders out wondering to himself exactly who the real cannibals were. The first time I watched the movie I found that line redundant and downright stupid. I felt a little ashamed on repeated viewings when it got to me a little more. It gives a voice and a few clear cut words to the final thought of the movie which can be applied to just about every character in the movie. Maybe he was thinking about himself when he shot the opposing tribe trying to make peace with the Yamamomo. |
| Describing the specifics of the movie was easy! Now if you'll please follow me we can try to dig up some background information! |