A Letter to Eszter About "Cannibal Holocaust"

Hi Eszter,

So, I have watched Cannibal Holocaust, as you have recommended. And, I actually, thought it was a well-made and well-structured movie. Although, the movie was grotesque in its depiction of not only a cannibal tribe, but, also of the real animal cruelty occurring on screen (about 7 animals were killed in the movie, which you can read about here.). But, this was a faux documentary – like the Blair Witch Project, it claims to be real footage of the four traveling documentarians being killed (and the cannibal tribes are played by real tribesman in Brazil, but they’re not cannibals in real-life – so there’s the controversy of racism by the filmmakers), which was a just a marketing ploy to sell the movie. The film revolves around an underlying social commentary about whether modern society is uncivilized in contrast to the cannibal tribesmen. There are scenes involving the killing of animals for food, the rape of a tribeswoman by the male filmmakers, abortion, etc. The movie actually reminded me of the anti-war message of Oliver Stone’s Platoon, but, also, invoked memories of a lesser violent war movie – “Return of the Jedi”. I kept thinking to myself, whether the Ewoks could have been portrayed as cannibals, too, by the Evil Empire? I can only imagine Wicket chewing on a furry limb…

Anyways, there’s a famous scene involving a tribeswoman having been impaled on a large stake from her bottom up out towards her mouth. I’ve never seen anything like it before, that’s all I can say. There were two scenes that grossed me out where a tribesman offered an American the fresh innards of a human body as food (out of respect, the American ate it), and the seemingly cutting of a captured man’s penis with a sharp rock. (Sorry, about the graphic descriptions, it’s the only way I can exorcise the thoughts from my mind – by writing them.) It’s a movie I won’t ever forget, but, this time, I didn’t feel nauseas after viewing it. As I write this, I am downloading the rare, eerie theme song composed by Riz Ortolani that played throughout the movie… can’t get it out of my head… can’t get it out of my head… can’t get it out of my head…

Don’t you find it ironic, that I found Paris, JE T’amie for you, and you led me to Cannibal Holocaust?

Fate works in mysterious ways.

“Cannibal Flick Connoisseur” ray hom