(Poorly translated) U.S. title: Death in the Garden.
At a South American village, miners revolt after the government seizes their mining grounds. An old man is wrongly accused of being the leader of the revolt; he was planning to go back to France with his mute daughter and a local prostitute to whom he proposes marriage. A stranger in town sleeps with said prostitute and in the next morning is accused of a robbery. When government reinforcement troops arrive to town, the four of them, plus a missionary priest, board a riverboat and flee the village. They take refuge in the Amazon jungle, trying to find their way to the Brazilian border. With the shortage of food, and the difficulties in orientation, their survival is seriously jeopardized.
Pulpish adventure with a few memorable sequences which, if not conceived by the director, fit his notorious style nicely, such as: the teasing of a mute girl by stepping on her boot laces; a snake devoured by ants; a prostitute in a gala dress in the middle of the jungle; etc. Also, he seems to have a predilection for eye hurt. The premise is dated: freedom for miners is frowned upon nowadays by environmentalists. It is an eventful enough story as to avoid dullness, but there is little in it of real originality or consequence. The cinematography, on the other hand, is breathtaking, especially as seen on a (presumably) restored high definition copy.
Rating: 45
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