A scientist goes from materialistic and cynical and rather silly to educated over the plight of Amazon natives in this about two people differing scientific beliefs coming together in their desire to keep the rainforests from being destroyed. But man through greed is more powerful than an ideal especially when they have weapons and tractors an other devices that can tear down the land within hours. Lorraine Bracco who is a scientist who arrives in the Amazon to work with Sean Connery who has been there for years and understands the people and the environment more than she does. He knows that removing these people from their land could cause the end of their pride, and his humanity towards these human beings independent of the ways of modern civilization is quite profound. He tells Bracco of how a disease from the outside world can destroy this civilization, and after showing her the beauty of their way of life, she changed his profound ways even though there's dangers on the way through developers.
An absolutely gorgeous film to look at but not without its imperfections, mostly Bracco whose performance, while sincere, seems to be lacking in believability. The cameraman also has an odd fixation on the back sides of the natives which are only covered by a very thin string. An amusing moment has one of the English-speaking natives teasing Connery in an innocent friendly way that has other natives laughing in agreement, humanizing them a lot more and making them more identifiable as people rather than just uncivilized members of the Jungle tribe. The kids of course are adorable, cute and curious and funny.
There are many wonderful moments in this film that are excellent, but then the mood changes and the flaws become more noticeable. It's very sad at the end when you see what happens to their homes, but there are elements of hope beyond that. Connery is sensational, and the music, along with the gorgeous photography, really brings out the emotion of the story. There's a truly amazing moment when Bracco gets to see the surrounding area from the top of the jungle from the highest tree oh, and that's when her character really begins to transform. She is very funny in a scene where she makes a beverage out of a bark that contains caffeine and becomes high. So much greatness from a film that could have been excellent but missed that opportunity because of a few minor flaws.
An absolutely gorgeous film to look at but not without its imperfections, mostly Bracco whose performance, while sincere, seems to be lacking in believability. The cameraman also has an odd fixation on the back sides of the natives which are only covered by a very thin string. An amusing moment has one of the English-speaking natives teasing Connery in an innocent friendly way that has other natives laughing in agreement, humanizing them a lot more and making them more identifiable as people rather than just uncivilized members of the Jungle tribe. The kids of course are adorable, cute and curious and funny.
There are many wonderful moments in this film that are excellent, but then the mood changes and the flaws become more noticeable. It's very sad at the end when you see what happens to their homes, but there are elements of hope beyond that. Connery is sensational, and the music, along with the gorgeous photography, really brings out the emotion of the story. There's a truly amazing moment when Bracco gets to see the surrounding area from the top of the jungle from the highest tree oh, and that's when her character really begins to transform. She is very funny in a scene where she makes a beverage out of a bark that contains caffeine and becomes high. So much greatness from a film that could have been excellent but missed that opportunity because of a few minor flaws.