The Green Inferno
Director: Eli Roth
Writer: Eli Roth, Guillermo Amoedo
Cast: Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Daryl Sabara, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Sky Ferreira, Magda Apanowicz, Nicolás Martínez, Aaron Burns, Richard Burgi
Part of: /slash Filmfestival Christmas special

Plot:
Justine (Lorenza Izzo) is a young college student who is fascinated by a Alejandro (Ariel Levy) and the group of activists he leads. So when she gets the chance to accompany them to the Amazon to save an indigenous tribe and their homes, she jumps at the chance. But unfortunately that could very well be the worst decision of her life: First their bit of activism goes very wrong and then they find themselves in the clutches of a cannibalistic tribe.

The Green Inferno is a tribute to the 70s/80s Italian cannibal movies and it does a pretty perfect version of one of those films. As they tend to be offensive as hell, that’s not necessarily a good thing. But it is entertaining.

Of course any kind of movie that perpetrates the stereotype of the cannibalistic indio is inherently problematic and that goes for The Green Inferno as well. Apart from the racism, it doesn’t help either that I’m not always sure how serious Eli Roth is about certain things.

Like when the only black person in the cast is the first to die, is that alluding to genre convention or is it unreflected adhering to genre conventions? And while I do think it’s interesting that the classical castration element in these films is enriched with FGM rhetoric, the way it has been done here is far from thoughtful and apparently done for the shock value. In short, I don’t trust Roth to actually have thought all of this through.

That being said I did enjoy The Green Inferno, probably because I’m inclined to give the benefit of the doubt. I enjoyed the digs at the students who change the world. I enjoyed the absolutely detestable Alejandro (Ariel Levy). And I absolutely loved the weed joke (even though I usually hate stoner humor) that has never been done in the same way and works like magic.

As I said, it is very much in the spirit of the movies it wants to emulate. But it could and should have also carried some of Cannibal Holocaust‘s punch.

Summarizing: entertaining yet problematic.