The Emerald Forest

A film set in the Amazon. Bill is an American engineer. He works on a dam in Brazil and has brought his family with him. One day they picnic at the edge of the forest. His small son walks in among the trees and does not come back. The man searches for him for ten years. He keeps working, goes into the forest on his holidays, asks the tribes, and finds no trace. In the end he finds him. But what faces him is not a child; a young man, a member of the tribe, speaking its language and not wanting to return. From there the film is about the distance between two lives. The father wants to take his son; the son tries to show his father his world. The second matter is the dam. What Bill is building will destroy this forest, and the two lines meet. What the narrative is interested in is not adventure but responsibility: the film states plainly what civilisation does to the forest, though it tells this through an American's eyes, and that view is disputed today. It was shot in Brazil and worked with indigenous actors. Powers Boothe plays Bill. The director's own son Charley Boorman plays the son. Meg Foster is in the cast. John Boorman directed. The film states that it was inspired by a real event. Who it is for: anyone who likes 1980s adventure drama and narratives built on nature. Who it is not for: anyone attentive to how indigenous people are represented; the film tries to be respectful but its viewpoint is entirely from outside.