Cannibal Holocaust essay
Z
my native language (I'm German), I wold be extremely grateful for any
kind of corrections regarding grammar. Please mail me (or mail to this
forum) asap. I need the whole thing finished tomorrow.
Thanks a ton!
Matthias
CINEMA OF THE EXTREME - CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST BY RUGGERO DEAODATO
Millions watched America’s low-budget horror movie sensation The Blair
With Project in 1999. Critics and audiences praised the film in rare
unison (especially for an independent film), yet not quite as many were
familiar to the fact that The Blair With Project’s essential gimmick,
its pseudo-documentary premise, had been lifted from an Italian horror
epic of 1979 called Cannibal Holocaust. While becoming the biggest box
office hit in 1980s Japan only second to Steven Spielberg’s E.T.,
Cannibal Holocaust was censored and banned in most Western countries due
to its enormously controversial nature. The folks who managed to watch
it before the ban were shocked out of their wits. And as Cannibal
Holocaust was not the first splatter movie, nor the first movie dealing
with cannibalism, gore was hardly the sole reason for its sickening
effectiveness.
CANNIBAL MOVIES
In the 1970s, an almost exclusively Italian sub-genre of adventure and
horror films hit the screens. Exploiting the legends about cannibalistic
tribes, a series of cheaply produced cannibal movies shocked and amazed
the midnight movie audiences with extremly graphic scenes of violence
and bloodshed, compensating for the shoestring budgets they were shot
on. Apart from the obvious commercial effectiveness of gory attractions,
Italian horror movies of that era have been frequently said to reflect
an exceptionally violent decade in Italian history (if unknowingly so),
which was overshadowed by the terror of the Brigate Rosse, violence in
the air and violence in the streets. Starting off with Umberto Lenzi’s
Il paese del sesso selvaggio in 1972 and closing with Marino Girolami’s
La regina dei cannibali in 1980, most movies within this cycle
distinguished themselves not only by their brutality, but also by their
utter lack of intellect and, more often than not, cinematic
incompetence. They were also often viewed on as misogynist,
social-darwinist and racist by critics.
While the latter characteristics may be debatable when speaking of
Cannibal Holocaust, it is certainly the most technically sophisticated
entry in the series, being an exception and thus easily the peak of the
cannibal movie sub-genre.
As opposed to its numerous predecessors and successors, Cannibal
Holocaust is a brilliantly crafted piece of cinema. It’s certainly one
of the most controversial, most powerful, and most unsettling movies of
all time. As we will later see, much is to be discussed about the ethics
of director Ruggero Deodato. However, Cannibal Holocaust is such a
strong cinematic experience that once seen, it’s impossible to ever
forget. Far from being an ordinary horror film, it offers multiple
levels that are well worth discussing. So let us take a closer look.
CHILDREN OF THE NEO-REALISTS
Director Ruggero Deodato had already directed twelve feature films
before shooting Cannibal Holocaust, mostly typical Italian B-movie
productions like the „ancient heroes" entry Ursus, il terrore dei
kirghisi (1964) and the police thriller Uomini si nasce poliziotti si
muore (1976).
Back in the early 60s, he was schooled by Roberto Rossellini, one of the
founders of the Italian film movement of Neo-Realism, famous for his
masterpiece Roma città aperta. Deodato was Rossellini’s assistant in
seven films, Era notte a Roma (1960) among them, and no doubt these
experiences influenced his views on film greatly.
Having its roots in the Naturalist literature and theatre movement of
the late 19th century, Neo-Realism was concerned with close, genuine
views on life. It put an emphasis on society’s darker sides and
relentlessly displayed all kinds of unpleasant details. The stark,
socio-critical approach was contrasted with melancholic, almost
sentimental undertones, and both of these qualities can be found in
Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust to a huge degree.
THE STORY
Four American TV journalists do not return from their expedition to the
South American jungles, where they were planning to make a documentary
about cannibal tribes. After witnessing quite several gruesome
aboriginal rites, a search party led by anthroplogist Harold Monroe find
their dead bodies made into a cultic shrine by the cannibalistic „tree
people" tribe, along with the team’s film reels. Back in New York City,
the footage is viewed by Monroe and the ABC television company. Monroe’s
task is to add a scientific commentary, as the footage is to be shown on
TV as the popular young journalist team’s legacy.
But the film reels are of shocking contenct: the journalists
unscrupulously hurt, raped and murdered the native people. Obsessed with
providing sensational material, they staged a „war" between two enemy
tribes, burning one tribe’s members alive and destryoing their village.
After a long series of unspeakable cruelties against the natives, the
„tree people" finally took revenge by killing and eating the TV team one
by one. Everything was meticulously filmed right until the last
remaining journalist got attacked and his camera fell to the ground.
After several discussions with Monroe, who refuses to have anything to
do with the film, ABC company finally agree to destroy the reels. In the
epilogue, we are informed that the footage will be really sold to
another TV company for a huge amount of money.
REALITY TV
Cannibal Holocaust took roughly nine weeks to shoot, the second part of
the movie being filmed in 16mm with a hand camera. These hand-shot
scenes - the supposedly „salvaged reels" - have an incredibly realistic
feel. The unstaged, improvisatory acting style, abrupt endings and
beginnings of sequences, the jerking camera and scratches on the
celluloid make us almost forget that what we see is fiction. In spite of
using a similar twist, Deodato’s dramaturgy is considerably better than
that of The Blair Witch Project. While with Blair Witch, we get used to
the premise of an incessant pseudo-documentary pretty soon (and thus
find it difficult to accept is as anything other than fiction), Cannibal
Holocaust overwhelms us with a frequent change of reality levels. In the
very beginning, we see a journalist going on about archaic and modern
civilizations in front of a TV camera. Few seconds later, we can follow
the rest of his speech on a TV set in the window display of a New York
City warehouse, with several casual spectators standing outside
watching. Pictures of a journalist team heading out for the jungles of
South America are screened, as we are suddenly made first-hand
spectators: the warehouse scenario disappears and, with the archive
material now filling the whole screen, we are in the middle of action.
Before too long, we are back in New York City, watching TV footage of
anthropologist Monroe, before we are suddenly thrown straight into the
jungles, now witnessing Monroe’s attempts to find the missing journalist
team. His search is shown in supposed „real time" in a non-documentary,
feature film style.
These breathtaking changes of two locations, four different time zones,
and six different reality levels all happen within the initial five
minutes of the film! As an effect, this reality-switching confuses us to
a degree where we perceive fake documentary footage as disturbingly
real. Later on, we will mostly see the gruesome footage shot by the four
young journalists, and will have to deal with its extremely authentic
feel. Like the executives of the ABC television company, we watch the
„salvaged reels" for the first time, in all their entirety. There is
something very wicked about this situation: it gives us the alarming
feel that anything goes. There won’t be no relieving cuts, no fade-outs.
After all, this is reality.
RAPE OF THE SENSES
„The more you rape their senses, the happier they are", says one of the
ABC executives referring to the documentary’s potential TV audiences.
Does the same go for us?
Cannibal Holocaust rapes our senses with pictures that are violent,
revolting and cynical beyond belief. Few taboos remain unbroken, such as
graphically displayed torture, cannibalism, dismemberment, abortion,
implaling, and much more. Pretty soon we figure out that this movie
comes without a safety net, we will not be spared of any details. Still,
once we are in, we are hooked until the end. Is it because we want to
„see what happens"? Deodato doesn’t leave us that excuse, as we are
already informed in the middle of the film that the journalists have all
been killed. The only possible reason for watching the rest is: we want
to see how they have been killed. In this respect, Cannibal Holocaust
radically conspires against the viewer. We are disgusted by things
shown, yet we can’t resist and keep on watching. While this kind of
curiosity may be the the foundation for any other horror film (and the
reason for gapers around car accidents), no other horror film makes us
face our voyeurism the way Cannibal Holocaust does. By showing the ABC
executives’ reactions to the violent footage, Deodato demonstrates that
we are exactly like them: we may condemn what we see, yet we do not
consequently switch off the VCR or leave the cinema. The way we are
forced to reflect on our greed for spectacle makes watching Cannibal
Holcaust a very guilty pleasure.
The blood and gore in Cannibal Holocaust look a lot more realistic than
the cartoonish special effects in common horror flicks. It’s impossible
to enjoy the make-up artist’s effects, or to even laugh at it. As
opposed to the conventional technique of jump cutting between the
victim’s screaming face, the attacker and the victim’s injuries, Deodato
shows the entire process in a long shot without cuts, sometimes vulgarly
zooming at open wounds. That goes well with creating the illusion of an
authentic documentary, and also hints at what Deodato learned in the
school of Neo-Realism, where realism of technique relied heavily on long
shots.
THE POETRY OF PAIN
In spite of all its gross attractions, shock is not the only emotion
evoked by Cannibal Holocaust. An incredible desparation is predominant
in many scenes.
A sequence in which an unfaithful native woman is ritually murdered by
her husband leaves us with an enormous sadness about the cruelty of
mankind, and also about the sexism that, while inherent in every culture
to a bigger or lesser degree, is visible in a more immediate form here.
The tragic tone of this scene is even more intensified by Riz Ortolani’s
effective music score. A variation on the same music theme is later used
to increase the impact of the saddening pictures that show the
journalist team burning the natives’ village for the sake of thrilling
footage. This scene is enough to make one cry, but - just as one of the
journalists says „it’s beautiful!" when watching the burning village -
one can’t help but notice a strange kind of poetry in Deodato’s
pictures. A similar kind of bitter, desperate poetry is inherent in the
ritual murder scene, and even in the photography of an impaled woman.
Poetry doesn’t have to be nice, or discreet. The poetry we find in these
pictures is dark and crass, it’s about homicide, it’s a poetry of pain.
But in a twisted way, it’s beautiful.
RAPE OF THE BODY
Many critics have regarded Cannibal Holocaust and the other films of the
sub-genre as misanthropic and racist. Italian cannibal movies have been
said to portray human beings of other races in a similar way that Nazi
propaganda films have portrayed the Jewish and Slavian populations of
Europe.
Watching Cannibal Holocaust, you won’t find a proof for this
generalizing statement. If you can overcome your reservations against
the very portrayal of cannibalistic tribes (the most recent of which, by
the way, was discovered in the 1970s), there’s nothing that could
possibly underpin any accusations of racism. We feel a deep sympathy
with the natives when they have the unfortunate experience of meeting
white supremacists. The journalist’s mentality is exposed for what it
is: they look upon the natives as sub-humans which they can treat as
they please. They way Deodato portrays them, only the most die-hard
racist could even dream of having a bit of understanding for their
attitudes. We aren’t supposed to identify with them. It’s clearly the
ABC executives that represent us, the viewers.
Despite all the compassion that we feel for the natives, we get to see
the tribe’s cruel treatment of their own weaker members as well,
especially regarding women. The fact that we live in an unfortunately
Social-Darwinist world is one of Deodato’s main points in Cannibal
Holocaust. As the social scale of the tribe’s little community is pretty
lucid, their Social-Darwinism tribe is more obvious to us than that of
our Western hemispehere. Our societies have established regulations in
order to prevent archaic outbursts of the „survival of the fittest" law,
yet this very law is present in a great many other, more hidden ways
(see: cutthroat ecomic competition, mobbing, psychological hecking order
in groups). And as soon as we find ourselves not obligated to
civilizatory rules, we are ready to return to our archaic instincts -
that is exactly what happens with the journalist team when outside of
„civilization". In real life, this phenomenon could be observed in the
sadistic excesses of American soldiers in My Lai. Only one of many
exampes, but the Vietnam War of the 1970s sure influenced the tone of
Cannibal Holocaust to a certain extent.
One thing must also be mentioned: those who are shocked by the cruelties
that the journalists are capable of, but take those within the natives’
tribal society and their hositility towards other tribes for granted,
have subconsciously fallen victim to a different, more subtle kind of
racism. A good real-life example for that kind of attitude is the
refusal to intervene in misogynist cultural traditions like the
castration of women, as they represent „cultural rites that we don’t
understand ". The same subject reaches a global dimension when
discussing intervention in wars of Third World countries, which is
admittedly a very problematic subject.
Cannibal Holocaust is a bitter, fatalist look at what the world is like.
It doesn’t glorify Social-Dawrinism or racism, it just rubs our noses in
reality. That is the most shocking thing about the whole movie.
MONDO CANE
„When I shot Cannibal Holocaust, I intended to criticize a certain form
of journalism", Deodato stated in an interview. To be exact, he was
aiming at the sensationalistic 1960s and 70s genre of Mondo Movies.
Those documentaries basically tried to entertain with an endless
succession of cruelties and „abnormities" filmed all over the world,
some of which had really been staged exclusively for the camera. Deodato
has often been accused of doing extactly the same thing that he intended
to criticize. But as Cannibal Holocaust wasn’t promoted as an actual
documentary, plus it explicitly reflects on the viewer’s voyeurism on a
formal level, this accusation can only be partly true. It’s hard to deny
though that this reproach is correct when it comes to a very delicate
aspect of the film, namely its several animal cruelties: the fact that
animals of the jungle have been actually killed for the movie reveals
Deodato’s efforts of social-criticism in a quite different light. The
argument that this is also part of Deodato’s reflection on reality is
not correct, as the real killings of animals in the movie are reality,
and therefore not a reflection. At best, they could be „excused" as
being a weird kind of happening art, with the artist denouncing an
action by executing it. Deodato has tried to wriggle out of it like
this: „All the animals that had been killed were eaten by the Indios and
the film team later. Everyone makes such a fuss about it when so many
animals are killed to provide food for us all every day." - It’s up to
you to judge this statement’s credibility. However, as the animal
killings had no significance within the plot at all, the movie could
have been very well filmed without them. Therefore, this aspect of
Cannibal Holocaust remains its most questionable.
SUBVERSIVE ART
When Cannibal Holocaust was shot, a wave of excessively violent
exploitation films out of Italy were hitting the European screens. With
Cannibal Holocaust, Ruggero Deodato hijacked that concept and
transformed it into something different, more subversive. Accordingly to
the film’s title, some may have expected just another gore orgy to get
thrilled by. There are plenty of purely exploitative moments indeed, and
the movie has its fair share of cliched adventure flick elements. Still,
while giving the audiences exactly what they wanted to see, Cannibal
Holocaust simultanously turned against them by exposing their
pornographic outlook. Speaking of the movie’s morals, Cannibal Holocaust
is not nihilist, no matter how cynical its pictures may seem, it’s
resignative. It exposes and accuses human nature in a tragical way,
without offering solutions, yet the depressing aftermath makes us think.
And for all its unpleasantness, it’s a work of art, offering a basis for
interpretation from a wide variety of angles.
Cannibal Holocaust was banned in several countries for various reasons,
glorification of violence being the most common. None of the censors
really understood why the movie was so offensive: it showcased things
that we would rather suppress.
MONDO 2000
Looking back on the whole affair, Deodato states: „Cannibal Holocaust
turned out to be a forerunner to the much more explicit violence a few
years later. After watching the films of famous American directors, I
think that they have watched the film several times". To avoid further
comments on Cannibal Holocaust being an obvious „inspiration" for The
Blair Witch Project, it should be mentioned that we are generally much
more used to explicit violence even in mainstream cinema today. It’s
presented in a much more light-hearted, humorous way than back in the
70s. Looking at the way Quentin Tarantino makes violence look like a lot
of fun, the term „glorification of violence" seems to fit his films much
more than it fitted Cannibal Holocaust, where violence was painful and
disturbing.
It’s also interesting to see how much the Mondo Movie documentary style
has influenced today’s TV programmes. Satisfying our greed for the
sensational is apparently considered more important than real
information, and by even creating an openly voyeuristic form of
television with the Big Brother/Real Life genre, this kind of media has
reached yet another peak.
A current German TV show called Inselquiz sent a team of young people to
a remote island, where they have to survive over a span of several
weeks. Everything is filmed and transmitted on a daily basis. Everytime
one of the protagonists gets hurt, the camera cheerfully zooms at the
injuries, and every animal they kill for food is equally worth of our
closest attention. Sounds familiar?
Rocio Carrasco
--
The architect must be a prophet . . .
a prophet in the true sense of the term . . .
if he can't see at least ten years ahead don't call him an architect."
--Frank Lloyd Wright