Review: Cannibal Holocaust

I'd been trying to get a hold of this movie for some time. I first read about it while browsing IMDB.com and looking at the rating system of movies. I wanted to see what movies had been banned in certain countries, and I came upon this film. The title caught my eye, considering it's probably the most ridiculous and over the top title since that one about the African-American Aliens. "Wow," I said, as I noticed how many countries this movie had been banned from. In my adventures through the internet and subversive film, I've seen some pretty fucked up visuals in my time. There have been very few things that have actually caused me to become physically ill. It's somewhat desensitizing to be exposed to so much, so I'm always on the lookout for something that will really affect me. I read about this film and I thought, "I have to see this at least once, no matter how horrible it is." I was finally able to secure a copy through Netflix.com (who would've thought?) and I sat down to watch it.

Cannibal Holocaust is a film about a film. The plot follows a man who goes to investigate why a film crew disappeared after a documentary expedition into the rainforest. The expedition was to investigate a mysterious native cannibal tribe, from which no person has ever come back alive. He recovers the film, and the latter half of the movie is the recovered film. The movie ends up being one part fictional documentary and one part grindhouse horror flick. In a true sense, it's what The Blair Witch Project aspired to be.

Sergio Leone wrote to the director, Ruggero Deodato, after the film's completion: "Dear Ruggero, what a movie! The second part is a masterpiece of cinematographic realism, but everything seems so real that I think you will get in trouble with all the world."

All of this statement is true. This film is almost the best fictional documentary film that I have ever seen. I say almost for two reasons: One, Peter Watkins' Punishment Park is the greatest. Two, the visuals in this film are so over the top that on occasion it takes away from the documentary effect. But the gritty, low-budget production on this film works perfectly in its favor. The actors and actresses act remarkably well within the environment.

And now for the second part of Leone's quote. Cannibal Holocaust successfully added itself to the category of films that make me physically ill. I nearly had an anxiety attack after watching this film. If you are considering watching this movie I want to give you a brief listing of what you'll encounter: Multiple genuine animal killings (these are not faked), abortions, multiple rapes, genital mutilations, impaling, and generally fucked up situations like having sex on top of a pile of burnt corpses. Deodato pulls no punches in this film, and everything is graphically represented.

This film left me wondering if someone can go too far to prove their point. If Deodato wants his audience to realize the saturation of sex and violence on television and how far it can go, he can always do so without pushing so far beyond the boundaries that he alienates his audience from his intended message. This film is so far beyond anything most people will see, that they'll either turn off the movie halfway through or remember only the violence and none of the message.

6 / 10