After viewing
Cannibal Holocaust I can not help but wonder myself, who are the real savages of this world?
Is it savage to live off the land and hunt for your dinner, or is it more savage to corral innocent animals and waste hundreds of pounds of their carcasses just so we have the food we feel we need? It is always easiest to pigeon hole what we don't understand into the category of savage or wrong but who are we to judge really?
Okay enough of a sermon and onto the review. (By the by, I am in no way, shape or form a vegetarian - just commenting on the civilized world's tendency towards wastefulness) Cannibal Holocaust was in a lot of ways the original Blair Witch Project. But instead of being just miles from civilization as they knew it, Alan Yates (Gabriel York), Faye Daniels (Francesca Ciardi), Jack Anders (Perry Pirkanen) and Mark Tomasso (Luca Barbareschi) thrust themselves deep into the heart of what was known to be cannibal country - The Green Inferno. Hoping to gather footage for what they hoped would be their best documentary ever, the group instead found themselves tracked down and brutalized by the famed Tree People of The Green Inferno. But this is not a group of innocents here folks, in many respects they got just what they deserved.
Two months after the group left for their expedition, Professor Harold Monroe (Robert Kerman) set off to find out what had happened to the film makers. He was accompanied by a guide Chaco Losojos (Salvatore Basile) and his assistant Miguel. They braved the elements and used their Yacumo captive to gain entry into the village and were from there led to the Yanomamo (the tree people) where they find the remains of the documentary team as well as their film cans. The cans they are allowed to take with them as the Yanomamos believe that only Professor Monroe has the ability to dispel the evil which has plagued them since the killing of the Americans. What he finds as he views the footage will both shock and abhor any decent person.
I have to admit that this film was very hard to watch in sections between the sheer brutality of the forced abortion, the adultery punishment, the cannibalism and the animal cruelty. But I believe that it sends a strong message across that maybe we should think about what we consider savagery. As one television executive in the film aptly points out "today people want sensationalism; the more you rape their senses, the happier they are."
Cannibal Holocaust Movie Cast and Credits
Directed by
Ruggero Deodato
Writing credits
Gianfranco Clerici
Giorgio Stegani
Cast (in credits order)
Robert Kerman .... Professor Harold Monroe
Francesca Ciardi .... Faye Daniels
Perry Pirkanen .... Jack Anders
Luca Barbareschi .... Mark Tomasso (as Luca Giorgio Barbareschi)
Salvatore Basile .... Chaco Losojos
Ricardo Fuentes .... Felipe Ocanya
Gabriel Yorke .... Alan Yates
Paolo Paoloni .... Chief NY Executive
Lionello Pio Di Savoia .... Executive (as Pio Di Savoia)
Luigina Rocchi .... Native
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lucia Costantini .... Yacumo woman getting stoned for adultry (uncredited)
Ruggero Deodato .... Man sitting on lawn outside the university (uncredited)
Enrico Papa .... TV Show Host (uncredited)
Reviews of Cannibal Holocaust
Cannibal Holocaust Review from The Movie Vault at Dead Rabbit
Review of Cannibal Holocaust at The Flipside Movie Emporium
