"Keep the River On Your Right - A Modern Cannibal Tale"
Artist, anthropologist, archaeologist and writer Tobias Schneebaum has led, to say the very least, a colorful life. 45 years ago and funded by a Fulbright grant, this renaissance man walked into the jungles of Peru in a pair of canvas sneakers and the clothes on his back and spent a year living with a cannibal tribe. But there is a lot more to tell about the man in documentary filmmakers David Shapiro and Laurie Gwen Shapiro's thought provoking work, "Keep the River On Your Right - A Modern Cannibal Tale."
I knew nothing, a few days ago, about Tobias Schneebaum, his fascinating life and studies about primitive cultures. "Keep the River?" opened my eyes to the story of this incredible man who, at age 78, is brought back to those places he explored, alone, so many years ago. We learn, early on, that Tobias was, at one time, an accomplished painter who gave up his art to study anthropology. Taking his new knowledge and the Fulbright money he cast aside the trappings of civilization to enter the primitive, cannibal culture of the Harakambuit tribe of the Amazon.
This journey, though, is not all that "Keep the River?" is about. Tobias made a similar trip, some years later, into the jungles of New Guinea to live with another cannibal tribe, the Asmat. He is taken, by the Shapiros, on a new trek that will bring him back to his past lives in those distant places. At first, the septuagenarian is reluctant to make the arduous trip. He's afraid that his frailty may betray him and the possibility of breaking a hip, again, is genuine. More telling, though, is his fear of facing his past. It has been so long since he ventured to those distant places, he is sure that nothing and no one from that past is even left.
One of the many joys of "Keep the River On Your Right" is to see Tobias's reluctance to take the journey replaced with a real satisfaction and happiness for having made the enormous effort. Almost miraculously, in both Peru and Borneo, he meets old friends from his time in the jungle decades before. Most striking is his reunion with Aipat, an Asmat tribesman who was Tobias's best friend and lover those many years ago. The wash of emotions that Tobias feels are palpably depicted and both gladness and sadness come through. Another poignant moment happens when Schneebaum returns to Peru and meets, again, a tribesman who remembers him from 45 years ago. It's an amazing story all around.
The Shapiros have crafted a docu work that utilizes modern footage (shot terrifically by Jonathan Kobel), archival file film recordings, excerpts from Tobia's files, clips from the feature film "Trader Horn" and the anthropologist's interview on The Mike Douglas Show from 1969. The Douglas show, in particular, is most revealing as Tobias tells the emcee and his guests that he did, in fact, eat human flesh when living in Peru. The reaction, universally, is one of revulsion by the host and his panel, with the almost instantaneous follow-up question, "what did it taste like?" showing our morbid curiosity about such things. ("It tastes like pork" according to Tobias.)
The unbridled honesty of Tobias's telling of his story - he pulls no punches when he talks about his homosexuality or of eating another person - is an unexpected treat. He shares his years of experience with us as he talks about life and its wonders, of death and aging, and about living life to its fullest. You can't help but come out of the theater feeling the positive vibes of this fascinating little man.
There have been some first rate documentary films making it to theaters in recent years. "One Day in September" is a gripping document about the Jewish hostages taken by Arab terrorists during the 1972 Munich Olympics. "Sound and Fury" chronicles the real controversy of curing deafness in children. "Keep the River On Your Right - A Modern Cannibal Tale" brings us into the life and times of Tobias Schneebaum, a truly remarkable man. Even is you don't like documentary films, this is one worth seeing. I give it an A.
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
robin@reelingreviews.com laura@reelingreviews.com
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews