There are many movies that are considered extreme and
depraved, banned and ignored by many, and many of these movies do in fact attempt
to send an important message, and carry some interesting views on society. Yes
Cannibal Holocaust is disturbing and goes to the extreme, but it doesn’t do
that entirely for the sake of some kind of twisted entertainment. In the end, I
think that many are left with the same thought, were the cannibals the
tribesmen living in the Green Inferno, or were they in fact the very people who
set out to find them?
While yes, our filmmakers don’t actually eat people, as per
the description of a cannibal, but I think the term cannibal is more of a
metaphor for the state of society, or at least some of society. When I started
watching Cannibal Holocaust, I was certain that it would be a fairly standard,
if explicit, portrayal of a group of filmmakers who travel to the Amazonian
jungles and find the very cannibals they are looking for, only to fall prey to
them. However, Cannibal Holocaust took a surprising turn when it first
portrayed the tribesmen as the capable societies they are, not as guttural savages
as one might imagine with the title Cannibal Holocaust. Then, after seeing just
how capable if uncivilized the tribes are, we are shown the filmmakers cruel and
sadistic approach to creating the so-called savage cannibal tribesmen. I think
at that point, we have little doubt as to who the “cannibals” truly are.
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| Let's all just pretend we didn't murder and eat that.... turtle. |
On the one hand, Cannibal Holocaust does make a large number
of important points and analytical views on society. While, much of that may be
for the viewer to deduce themselves, the director clearly put those ideas in
the film. On the other hand however, Cannibal Holocaust is still very much a
movie, meant to... well it wasn’t exactly meant to entertain. Movies that are
meant to be shocking and extreme are not exactly new these days, and I’m not
sure exactly how new the concept was when Cannibal Holocaust was released.Cannibal Holocaust is an exploitation movie that uses a hypersensationalized form of filmmaking to get it's results. While no one may have been murdered, Cannibal Holocaust mixes in so much real violence and footage, that when you see the fake footage, you no longer know what is real and what isn't.
Why did I watch Cannibal Holocaust? Well first, the movie
has one hell of a reputation. It is kind of one of the peaks when it comes to
the most extreme end of cinema. It has a reputation of being extremely violent,
brutal and gory and yet, it also has a reputation of seeming incredibly real.
So real in fact, that when it was released Ruggero Deodato was arrested for murder.
People believing that the footage looked so real that the lost filmmakers must have been in fact murdered. While it
was proven that they were not, that does not make Cannibal Holocaust entirely
fabricated. The featured tribesmen are real, they are not actors. The violence
is also not entirely fake, and the credits of Cannibal Holocaust do not say, “no
animals were harmed in the making of”. A total of seven animals were in fact
killed in this movie and I found the scene in which the four filmmakers catch, slaughter and eat the large turtle to be particularly disturbing. When all is said and done, Cannibal Holocaust is not for
the weak of stomach.
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| This is the most iconic scene. I wonder why a circus didn't recruit her? |
Of course, all of this violence and gore is captured in what
was then, an untraditional way. While The Blair Witch Project may have been
the first found footage movie to be acknowledge as such in the mainstream,
Cannibal Holocaust is very much the original. While the first half of the movie is about an anthropologist who journeys to the Amazon in order to find the missing documentary crew, he eventually finds their film canisters. However, what is on those canisters may be more than anyone expected. I know that today, the found footage, first person effect is quite popular, and for many it is apparently unwatchable due to the shaking. I have never had a problem with that style, and was surprised when people actually told me The Hunger Games had been hard to watch due to the camera shots. Cannibal Holocaust contains a lot of footage shot on handheld 16mm camera's, some without even sound, and it is the frenzied shooting at the end particularly, that creates such a panic and chaotic effect.
One of the things I noticed most about Cannibal Holocaust was it's soundtrack. The opening credits seem eerily cheery, considering what one know they are about to watch. The films score varies between orchestras and electronic and synthesizers, yet in all cases creates quite an effect. Most of the score begins playing during the most violent and brutal scenes making the impact even more sensationalized. I must say, if I ever hear those tracks again, it should trigger quite the interesting effect.
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| That is a bitch'n corn cob pipe. Ohh, and apparently he is in pain. |
Cannibal Holocaust, without a doubt, achieved what director Ruggero Deodato set out to achieve. However, himself as well as many of the cast regret much of the film, with Deodato himself being quoted as wishing he had never even made the movie to begin with. The movie is one of the most controversial movies ever released, and has been banned in many countries. While some bans have been lifted, there are still many that remain. While the level of violence and exploitation in mainstream movies has increased today, Cannibal Holocaust still tops most of them with just how real, much of it, in fact being real, it is. While Cannibal Holocaust is not the classic movie everyone has seen, it's success is evident, along with the reputation it has built.
Since Cannibal Holocaust, there have been many similar movie made trying to jump on the cannibal exploitation band wagon. While they have been of varying success, none have ever come close to Cannibal Holocaust. I am very curious however, to see Eli Roth's next movie, Green Inferno, which is now underway. Green Inferno being the title of the documentary the filmmakers in Cannibal Holocaust set out to make, Green Inferno is clearly going to draw it's influences from Ruggero Deodato's original cannibalism exploitation masterpiece. While there are many critics and others who may not acknowledge Cannibal Holocaust as a masterpiece, I think it is such boundary pushing filmmaking, no matter how condemned many of them are, is important. Cannibal Holocaust to me is more than a disturbing and unsettling exploitation movie. It asked some important questions about society, that, I don't have become any less valid today.
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