THE EMERALD FOREST. Directed and produced by John Boorman for Embassy; written by Rospo Pallenberg. Starring and Powers Boothe and Charley Boorman. Rated R (violence and completely innocent nudity).
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Pardon my pun, but The Emerald Forest is a real "jewel" of a movie.
It has scenery and sentiment, magic and a message. With action to boot. The story is powerful and absorbing, the exotic locale is photographed beautifully, and the acting is good.
Based on a true story, The Emerald Forest begins with 7-year-old Tommy's disappearance into the Amazon rain forest while on an outing with his father. The father (Boothe), an American engineer, never gives up hope of finding the boy. But when he finally does, 10 years later, he's not ready for the changes that "primitive" living have made in his son.
The Emerald Forest has great deal of emotional appeal. The peaceful coexistence of its two stories—the "big" one concerning the destruction of the rain forest and the personal one about Tomme (as he comes to be called) and his family—gives the movie a myth-like quality as well. It can be enjoyed on many levels and for many reasons.
Boorman, in his first major role, is wonderful as Tomme. His blue-green eyes are haunting, blending beautifully with the paint his tribe wears to make them "invisible" in the forest. And his natural grace of movement and manner make him seem born to the jungle life. He is the producer/director's son, but he shouldn't need such connections in his future career (he's the same age as Tomme—17).
Boothe's portrayal of a father's anguish in such a situation is impressive as well. We all have dreams for our children, he learns, but they must find their own way. Fortunately for us parents, few will diverge from expectations as radically as Tomme does.
The last half of The Emerald Forest contains a good bit of violence, otherwise I'd recommend it for the whole family. (Also, young children might be frustrated by the subtitles. Much of the dialogue is in a tribal language.) But the innocent nudity exhibited by the tribe people also contributed, I suspect, to its R rating. I would have given it a PG-13 for the violence alone and let it go at that.
The nudity here ia a natural part of the tribe's way of life, and not at all obscene. Significantly, when a group of native girls is liberated from the brothel to which they were sold, the first thing they do is take off the tawdry clothes they were made to wear. The natural state is definitely the moral one in The Emerald Forest.
In the struggle of civilization versus the natural world, the verdict of this story comes down heavily in favor of nature. But the picture isn't completely over-simplified. Tomme's parents, while certainly civilized, are sympathetic figures. And the "Fierce People," enemies of Tomme's adopted tribe, are pretty nasty figures even before they learn about guns and alcohol from the white man.
The emphasis of The Emerald Forest is on the relentless march of civilization, however, and its often unfavorable effects on the world. The ending of the movie seems to say that nature, aided by people living close to it, can fight back with impressive results.
But we know that the destruction of the forest, with its animal and human ecologies, continues.
July 24, 1985