The Green Inferno

04/22/2017 15:29

Film: The Green Inferno

Year: 2013

Director: Eli Roth

Writer: Guillermo Amoedo and Eli Roth

Starring: Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy and Aaron Burns

 

Review:

This film begins in a dorm of two freshmen. One of them wakes up hearing protestors outside. She is played by Lorenza Izzo. She opens up the shutters and this wakes up her roommate, played by Sky Ferreira. She is in bed with her boyfriend. They are annoyed by the protestors as well. They are on a hunger strike, trying to get the janitors at the college to have full benefits.

The two women go to get breakfast and watch the protestors on the way back. They are led by Ariel Levy. Izzo is interested in him and his girlfriend, who played by Ignacia Allamand notices this. She kisses him.

Izzo and Ferreira go to class where they learn about female genitalia mutilation. Izzo speaks up about in class, asking why more is not being done to stop this and she is informed that it is happening in too many places. It would take all the lawyers in the United Nations to really make a difference. As they are leaving class, a man who is part of Levy’s organization approaches her; he is played by Aaron Burns. He asks her to come to their next meeting.

The two young women go out to eat with Izzo’s dad, who is actually a lawyer with the United Nations and is played by Richard Burgi. She brings up her point she made in class and he tells her that there is nothing he can do. A lot of this is that it is not illegal in these countries and there isn’t a lot he can do. He does ask her about a necklace that her grandmother gave Izzo. She tells him that she still has it, but forgot to put it on today.

Izzo goes to the meeting. She makes a bad comment and Levy gets angry with her. He kicks her out of the meeting and she is upset. Burns tries to comfort her, letting her know that they won their strike and the janitors got their benefits. He tells her that Levy is just passionate and that she should stick it out.

She ends up meeting with Levy and begs him to let her join the group. She is passionate about women’s rights in Africa and wants to learn how to make a difference. He relents and lets her in on what their next plan will be.

There is a company that is cutting down the rain forest trying to change the course of a river. There is an indigenous people that are going to have their home destroyed. Their protest is trying to stop them, but the company has hired a private militia to protect what they are doing. This is going to take place in Peru. Ferreira and Burgi are against this, but Izzo still goes anyway.

The closer they get to the site, the more that Levy reveals and how dangerous this will be. They are going to chain themselves to trees as well as their equipment. They are also going to blow up one of the bulldozers. They have a man who is financing the operation; he is played by Matías López. He seems shady and Izzo notices this from the beginning. He also has set it up for them to hack into a satellite the company is using to broadcast this to the world. They have camera phones to do this.

They put their plan into motion and Izzo cannot get her lock to close. She is pulled down from the tree and a gun is put to her head by Percy Chumbe. Levy announces who her father is and Chumbe’s boss calls. They have won and what they did is going viral. They have succeeded.

The students get on a small plane and we see López pay a soldier. He is given all of their passports. They are celebrating on the plane, when the engine explodes. They crash into the jungle. Many died in this, but the survivors try to figure out how they are going to survive this, when they are attacked. Allamand gets an arrow through the neck and one in her forehead. The rest of the men are knocked out with darts.

They wake up as they arrive to a native tribe’s village. They are being led by a headhunter, played by Ramón Llao. They are brought before the elder, who is played by Antonieta Pari. Izzo and Levy both have survived thus far. With them are Daryl Sabara, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Magda Apanowicz, Nicolás Martínez and Burns. Everyone is taken to a cage except for Burns. He is murdered in front of them. His eyes are removed as well as his tongue, which are eaten by Pari. He is cut apart and then cooked. These people are cannibals.

Izzo is discovered soon after that to be a virgin and she is going to be prepared to clitoris mutilated like she learned in class. Can they escape before this happens? Levy reveals his true nature and that there is another company doing the same thing they tried to stop. Will they make it to save them? Is there anything they can do to get away? Does Martínez’s GPS work and can it be used to save them if they can get to it?

I have to say that when I saw the trailer for this film, it made me think of the exploitation film Cannibal Holocaust. I wasn’t surprised to learn that director, writer and producer Eli Roth made this film from inspiration of that one. This film is a watered down version of it. Coming in you have to know that it is going to be bloody and gory, as that is what Roth is known for. This film is quite graphic. I thought the acting was pretty good for the most part. Izzo is solid and the rest of the cast was believable. I did like to see that all of the villagers are real natives, but aren’t really cannibals. The concept of this film is terrifying and I also the idea that Levy was paid by a rival company to do what he did. It makes you really question the ideals and the motives of some of these people that try to make changes. Levy is really a scumbag and only cares about himself.

Now I’m not entirely sure how I feel about Levy and his acting. I liked that at first you think he is an asshole because he does care about making the changes he is campaigning for. Then you realize that he is just an asshole and is no better than those in power. His acting wasn’t great after he is captured though, so I’m not sure I fully believed that he would be as calm as he was. This film is also set up for a sequel and I don’t know if I like that. I will probably see it if it is made, but a film like this would be better as a stand alone. It also takes awhile for them to get to the village. The film did a great job at building tension early, but it seemed to struggle as it approached the climax. It has such a bleak outlook, but we don’t get enough hope that they will make it out alive and that hurt the film for me. I’m also surprised they didn’t do more with Burgi and worrying about finding his daughter.

Now with that said, I would recommend this film if you are into gory films. The film is terrifying to be stuck in a situation like they are without much of a chance to make it out. The acting for the most part was good. The concept and story were as well. It doesn’t build enough tension for me and it doesn’t feel like they have a chance to survive, which did hurt it a bit for me. This is a watered down version of Cannibal Holocaust, but still has some gore to it. If you can stomach it, I did enjoy this film and would say give it a viewing.

 

My Rating: 7 out of 10