Just because there’s
colour, doesn’t mean that black and white becomes a superfluous colour palette.
Yet, that has been the case for the majority of cinema, so when a beautifully
shot black and white film, like Embrace
of the Serpent comes along, it feels like a novelty. Set across two time
frames, the latter recounting the story of the former’s diarist, Embrace links the two through inventive,
seamless pan movements and the character of Karamakate. Karamakate, as a young
man, passionate, powerful and proud is, as an older man and following his
encounter with a white man, jaded, tired and exploited; he represents what has
happened to the South American landscape following the mining of rubber.
Embrace has a lot to say, and while the writer/director has claimed it has no
anthropological value, it feels valuable in its exploration of conquest and
colonisation and the message, which is one of Western opportunism, it passes
on. At two hours long, Embrace is the
perfect length for a film that will be isolating to many audience members. Any
longer and people will start to twist in their seats. The performances are rigid,
but strangely hypnotic, which feeds into the narrative of drug taking and the important
hallucinations that follow that runs through the film. Embrace, an Amazonian road trip is a journey for the viewer, too.
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