We’ll never know what all has been destroyed in the Amazon rainforest. This is true on botanical and medicinal levels as well as a cultural one, since the intrusion of colonization long ago began laying waste to unique expressions of nature and culture before they could even be recorded. Colombian director Ciro Guerra focuses squarely on this violation—and its many implications—in the mesmerizing Embrace of the Serpent. To horrifying—and sometimes psychedelic—effect, Guerra sheds light on atrocities and anomalies that took place in the Amazon in the early 20th century.
Based on true events, Serpent splices together two parallel timelines, each featuring Karamakate, shaman and lone survivor of his tribe.