Embrace of the Serpent – A cross-cultural masterpiece
Set in the backdrop of the Amazon rubber boom of the early 20th century, Colombian director Ciro Guerra’s Embrace of the Serpent is a movie about many things – the timeless wisdom associated with shamanism, the effects of colonialism on native cultures, the dark side of European missionaries, the perils of human greed and above all, the power of dreams. The story is narrated thirty years apart based on the wanderings of a German and an American in the core of the Colombian Amazon. Having spent quite some time in the jungle, German ethnographer Theo von Martius has developed sickness and is in the quest for the Yakruna, a sacred plant with healing powers. To locate the mystical plant, he, accompanied by a Westernised former native slave named Manduca, seeks the guidance of Karamakate, a shaman, who happens to be the last surviving member of a tribe annihilated by European invaders. Karamakate, Theo and Manduca At the outset, Karamakate is reluctant to help the German for the s...