Jungle

Jungle (2017) recounts something that actually happened in Bolivia in 1981, and its source is the survivor's own book. Yossi Ghinsberg, twenty one and just out of military service, travels to South America. There he meets a Swiss teacher and an American photographer. An Austrian man who presents himself as a geologist promises them gold in unmapped territory, and the four set off. The first half moves like an adventure film. Then the group splits, the raft goes over a waterfall, and Yossi is left alone in the forest. He walks for three weeks without real food. His feet become infected, floodwater catches him, fever sets in, and he begins to hallucinate. This is the best part of the film. After a while the solitude becomes a bigger threat than the hunger, and Greg McLean shows that plainly. Daniel Radcliffe lost serious weight for the part and delivered one of the hardest performances of his post Potter career. It runs 115 minutes. Good for: true survival stories and drama set in wilderness. Less good for: there are insects, wounds, and physical collapse. Anyone with a weak stomach will struggle.