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Keep the River on Your Right - A Modern Cannibal Tale

Keep the River on Your Right - A Modern Cannibal Tale

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Tobias does the jungle - again!
Review: This film documents Tobias Schneebaum's reflections on and return to the people and places he first visited some 40 years ago in the Amazon basin of Peru and in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Tobias considers himself an explorer, some consider him an amateur anthropologist, regardless he has done (and immensely enjoyed) going where most of us dream of going doing what most of us don't dare to do. He has lived closely and intimately with clans of a very different culture (that some would very mistakenly call primitive) creating enduring friendships and loving partnerships. Tobias makes no claim to be a great anthropologist or explorer, but he states clearly that as an artist he wanted to share as completely as possible the cultures that few others had even seen. The cinematography is a concatenation of numerous 60-70-80's clips that provide background to Tobias' return trips to the jungles. This movie will appeal mostly to those who are familiar with the Asmat and Shuar peoples and who have read any of Tobias's books. My only objection: as the film crew takes him further than he wants to go, his on-screen complaints about his hips and ailments increase. That's real and understandable enough, but a bit tiresome. By the end, I was as antsy as he was to go home.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing, this film blew my mind
Review: This is a great portray of the life of Tobias, a painter from New York who discovered a passion for tribal people, and who did crazy things like walking for 8 days in the Amazon jungle to meet a tribe he heard had just killed a whole other village. He experienced cannibalism, and later, living with a tribe in Papua New Guinea, found a home since homossexuality was respected there, and he, a homossexual himself, found love there. The film shows Tobias going back to N.Guinea and Peru over 40 years after these events and meeting old friends and memories. What a brilliant life. No wonder he says he is ready to die.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: a terrible, boring documentary that doenst show anything
Review: THis is sopposed to be the updated story of homosexual cannibal Scheenbaum who went to the brazilian jungle many years ago and became a 'native' only to return and write a book by the same name as the movie.

I had high hopes for the film. I thought I would learn of his original adventure, I thought I would get insights into the extraordinary people of the amazon with footage of the mountains and the rain forest. Scheenbaum and walked past Machu Pichu to get to the headwaters of the amazon(he walked from the wrong side obviously not through Brazil). But we dont see this in the film. Lets talk about what we do see:

THe film opens with elderly Scheenbaum and him talking to a class at a museum. Then it talks a little about his book that turned the worlds attention to him. THen we follow him to east asia where he speaks on a cruise about cannibals in east asia.

A terrible film, an awful documentary. Inexcusable this film!!!! How could the directors get away with having a movie that says it will tell the sotry of this odd dimented individual and yet tells no story at all. A total farce!!! We see NOTHING of the amazon, yet the film bills itself as Scheenbaum return to the people he orignally 'went native' with.

much emphasis is made of the fact that Scheenbaum is gay and that he found gay natives where ever he went. THis is an interesting side note but the film emphasized this aspect to much. Who cares that he was gay? I was interested in the cannabalism. The film bills itself as a story of 'modern day cannabalism' yet their is no story and we learn NOTHING of this. We only learn about Scheenbaums boring eveyrday life and his gay escapades with natives in easat asia.

A TERRRIBLE BILKING OF THE AUDIENCE, watch this film with no expectation to see anything on the cover or any of the description on the back and then you might be happy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: amazing experience
Review: What a wonderful film by this brother-sister team - especially deserving of its many awards. (I think they won the Independent Spirit Awards best documentary, because I recall seeing the directors on that show.) Tobias schneebaum is truly an extraordinary man - and this reverse journey from his present to his past is sort of a reverse odysessy. The previous reviewer is missing the point - this film is not about indigine=ous peoples or anyone else - its about one man - and the directors have him in practically every frame - a wise choice. Only a few people could keep my interest for the length of a movie. Exceptional.


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