Cine Expat #5: Embrace of the Serpent

On January 8th at 7PM we start off 2017 with another edition of Cine Expat, Cinecenter’s monthly programme where we screen foreign language films with English subtitles. Next up: EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT (El Abrazo de la serpiente). Shot in stunning black-and-white, the film centers on the friendship between Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and the last survivor of his people, and two scientists who work together over the course of 40 years to search the Amazon for a sacred healing plant.

The Amazon, at the beginning of the 20th century. The time in which new areas were discovered and local communities were surpressed. Set in this era, the German explorer Theo and his local guide Manduca meet the Amazonian shaman Karamakate. Theo – who has been wandering in the jungle for a while – is seriously ill and in search of a rare, healing plant. The shaman, whose people have been murdered and driven out, joins the two explorers on their journey, in the hopes to find any survivors. Together, they embark on a psycically and mentally exhausting journey through the jungle and over the water.