Tuesday, February 11, 2025

“TRANSAMAZONIA”

THE STORY – As a child, Rebecca is rescued from a plane crash in the Amazon rainforest by a member of a nearby Indigenous tribe. Now a teenager, she is well known in the area as her father, American missionary Lawrence Byrne, claims that she is a faith healer. Rebecca’s misgivings about her situation are compounded by the arrival of illegal loggers poised to disrupt the local way of life

THE CAST – Helena Zengel & Jeremy Xido

THE TEAM – Pia Marais (Director/Co-Writer); Willem Droste (Co-Writer)

THE RUNNING TIME – 112 Minutes


“Transamazonia,” the South African director Pia Marais’ first film in 10 years, promisingly begins with a mesmerizing opening sequence set in a remote part of the Amazon jungle. Slowly revealed is the debris of a crashed airliner and the sight of Rebecca, a young girl, still strapped in her seat, slowly regaining consciousness. She is soon rescued by a member of the local Indigenous tribe, who carries her out and returns her to civilization. Mathieu de Montgrand’s striking cinematography sets the mystical mood of this wordless sequence and carries the film through its narrative pitfalls throughout.

Nine years pass, and Rebecca (now played by Helena Zengel of “News of the World“) has joined the Christian ministry of her father, Lawrence (Jeremy Xido), who is bringing his version of the Word of God to members of the local Iruaté tribe. The tribe considers Rebecca, the sole survivor of that crash, to be some kind of miracle healer, an assumption that only helps Lawrence’s ministry. Indeed, at a boisterous service, Rebecca approaches a wheelchair-bound worshiper and gets her to stand, though whether Rebecca has any power to heal is left deliberately ambiguous.

Offstage, she is undergoing an existential crisis of her own, resenting the fact that Lawrence has cast her as a performer and expects her to take on the role of faith healer at a moment’s notice. Coming into her own as a young woman, she wants authority over her own choices, which includes taking a more meaningful role in the lives of the tribe around her. However, she knows if she steps back from her role as healer, the jungle life that Lawrence has built for them both could collapse.

To this point, the screenplay by Marais and Willem Droste has established a clean narrative through-line, successfully balancing the mystical elements of the story to which director Marais is drawn with the coming-of-age character study of Rebecca. As other elements are added to the story, however, that narrative becomes complicated as illegal loggers cross into Iruaté territory and begin cutting down its trees, forcing the Iruaté from their homes. The tribesmen decide to fight back by sabotaging the loggers’ equipment, to which the response is more violence.

Matters are complicated further when Artur (Romulo Braga), owner of the logging company, comes to Lawrence with a desperate proposal. Artur’s wife is in a deep coma and needs a miracle for her to survive. He offers Lawrence a deal: if Rebecca can heal his wife, he will remove his men from Iruaté land. This creates a dilemma for both Rebecca and Lawrence. They want to help the tribe, but if Rebecca cannot bring the woman back to life, the tribe will doubt her healing abilities, and their mission will be threatened.

That dilemma suddenly opens a treasure trove of issues that the film seems ill-equipped to handle: racial tensions between the Indigenous people, Brazilians, and white outsiders; the effects of deforestation on the land and its people; climate change; the use of religion for personal gains, and, finally, the often-strained bond between fathers and daughters. To add to that, there’s a third-act twist which, though you can see it coming in the film’s first 15 minutes, still takes time to explain and confront. As a result, the film’s final act becomes a flood of exposition, tying up as many narrative loose ends as possible. And what “Transamazonia” did so admirably in its first act — following one young woman’s journey in finding her own path in the mystical Amazon jungle — is diminished in the film’s final mosh pit of plot.

This is not to say that “Transamazonia” is without its virtues. Besides De Montgrand’s standout visuals, Marais gets strong performances from her cast. As Lawrence, Xido certainly gives off con-man evangelist vibes in his early scenes, but he slowly reveals a complexity to the man, even through the final twist. For her part, Zengel has grown so much as an actress since “News of the World,” and she makes Rebecca’s frustration achingly real.

However, their fine work is not enough to keep “Transamazonia” from stumbling at the finish line, overloaded with too many ideas it wishes to express. What the film needs to tell its female empowerment story is a focus, which turns out to be the one thing it lacks.

THE RECAP

THE GOOD - A pair of strong lead performances and striking visuals highlight Pia Marais' portrait of a young woman searching for her own path amid conflict in the Amazon jungle.

THE BAD - The battle involving an Indigenous tribe and illegal loggers raises so many social issues with which the film grapples that it loses its narrative focus.

THE OSCAR PROSPECTS - None

THE FINAL SCORE - 5/10

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Tom O'Brien
Tom O'Brienhttps://nextbestpicture.com
Palm Springs Blogger and Awards lover. Editor at Exact Change & contributing writer for Gold Derby.

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<b>THE GOOD - </b>A pair of strong lead performances and striking visuals highlight Pia Marais' portrait of a young woman searching for her own path amid conflict in the Amazon jungle.<br><br> <b>THE BAD - </b>The battle involving an Indigenous tribe and illegal loggers raises so many social issues with which the film grapples that it loses its narrative focus.<br><br> <b>THE OSCAR PROSPECTS - </b>None<br><br> <b>THE FINAL SCORE - </b>5/10<br><br>"TRANSAMAZONIA"