The Age of Commercialism

Great Film overall

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This early cannibal outing from Umberto Lenzi is one of his better films, which actually boasts characterisation (gasp!) and a plot involving real people over mindless violence! Ivan Rassimov is given star billing as an explorer who hooks up with a cruel native tribe. This is probably Rassimov's best performance, initially tough and powerful, and yet later on accepting the ways of the native tribes and even going native himself. At the film's heart is a tragic story of love and death which is surprisingly moving, considering the usual Italian exploitation film (i.e. bad dubbing + bad acting = unintentional hilarity).I'm not usually a big fan of films which use little or no understandable dialogue (like some of Hammer's prehistoric movies), but this film is a real exception. Rassimov, who later camped it up in the likes of EATEN ALIVE, is genuinely sympathetic as he goes through the horrors of tribal torture and emerges as the leader of the group. Me Me Lai, who starred in loads of films like this, is actually not bad either as Rassimov's bride. The rest of the cast is made up of bad actors and genuine natives, but the emphasis is upon Rassimov and his entrance into this tribal world.For a cannibal film, there is surprisingly little cannibalism here. The central tribe are actually not cannibals at all, merely animal-chomping natives. Within this tribe there are the typical crusty old leaders and baddies, which makes for a lot of interesting confrontation. At the end of the film there is an attack by cannibals, but there is little human violence in this film which may be disappointing for some viewers. Unfortunately, in place of this, we get a ton of real-life animal cruelty, which is truly difficult to watch. It's best just to try and ignore it.The best bits come when Rassimov tries to escape from the tribe and is captured, and then blown darts at or whipped within an inch of his life. It's exploitative and at times racist, but Umberto Lenzi's film is actually an in-depth and thoughtful look at an uncivilised culture totally opposite to the one in which we live, a primal world in which the "survival of the fittest" rule is the only way in which to live. If you're at all interested in this particular genre, I would recommend this film, even if it's just to see how the cannibal genre started out.

This movie might not satisfy the viewers who seek it out assuming it is full of explicit gore and cannibal depravity, but I thought it was a likable story. It is a little slow in some parts, but concentrates on narrative more than shock. As a fan of movies, not bloody effects, I appreciated the effort.A Westerner gets captured by a primitive tribe and slowly becomes accepted as one of them. A romance develops with one of the tribeswomen, and the love story becomes the focus of the rest of the movie.Simple, but I enjoyed it, I think because it felt just authentic enough. Most of the actors looked like they could have been from the area, the setting didn't look totally fake, and there were some moments that were obviously not done with special effects. Perhaps the least convincing part of it was the actress who played the love interest. Never once did I even remotely imagine she was a tribeswoman, looking more like a model (supposedly she worked on a game show). However, I enjoyed her character's playfulness and believed her when she gave the leading man shy but loving looks. Could it be that these characters from the first cannibal movie are one of my favorite on-screen couples?

Lenzi's earliest "cannibal" romp is more interested in a man's personal voyage into self discovery than human chomping. Still, it's a mildly diverting curio that features stretches of animal torture, native nudity (Me Me Lai mostly), some gory deaths, and some human endurance tests ("Fear Factor" 70's-style). Ivan Rassimov, who dials his performance down in this oater, plays a Brit photographer who travels to Thailand to film the local wildlife. He gets into a deadly but dull altercation with a local and takes off up the river. His guide is slaughtered and he is captured by a tribe of savages who put him through his paces and convert him to their way of life. Of course, it's the constantly naked Me Me Lai who assures his conversion to the ways of the wild man. Lai is cute but not as superhot as, for example, Vanity in "Tanya's Island", or Laura Gemser. The photography is professional and the direction is more focused than is usual for the inconsistent Lenzi. Of particular note is the great, often repeated signature score by Daniele Patucchi.

Umberto Lenzi was a diverse director, having made Giallo films, Italian crime films and some of the most notorious cannibal flicks, not to mention a whole host of other films with various sub-genres of horror. Deep River Savages is the film that is often given credit for kicking off the whole cannibal tradition, and it's also a member of the British 'Video Nasty' list, which lead to it's banning in the eighties. It's odd that this film should be on that list; however, as it's debatable as to whether or not it's even a horror film. Sure, it features some gore; but this is more like an early version of Dances with Wolves than its more bloodthirsty cannibal film cousins. The film follows Ivan Rassimov; a man who, after accidentally killing another man in a bar, finds himself in the Amazon jungle, where he is taken captive by a bunch of savages. After enduring various tortures, he finds himself the object of affection for a dim-witted female member of the tribe, and when she chooses him as her husband; he soon realises that despite being bloodthirsty savages; these guys aren't all that bad...Ivan Rassimov is one of my favourite cult Italian actors, and he does well in this film as his rugged appearance fits the feel of the movie very well and this makes him believable in the lead role. His performance gives the film credibility; something which is lacking in a lot of these types of films. He is joined by his Last Cannibal World and Eaten Alive co-star Me Me Lai, whose appearance again helps the movie and the pair do actually bode quite well on screen together. Umberto Lenzi's direction is assured as usual, and he does a good job of ensuring that the location fits the tone of the movie at all times. The jungle setting is well realised, and the shots the savages' village look great. The film is, like Kevin Coaster's highly rated nineties film, more than a little bit cheesy; and this isn't helped by Ivan Rassimov's voice-over. If it wasn't for the fact that I've seen 1957's 'Run of the Arrow', I would imply that Kevin Costner stole ideas from Umberto Lenzi. Of course, Dances with Wolves was about an Indian tribe; but there isn't a lot of difference. Still, I'd take Ivan Rassimov and cannibals before Kevin Costner and Indians any day! Overall, this isn't one of the 'great' Italian cannibal films...but it's not bad either.