Product Description

From the director of Hope & Glory comes a "wildly ambitious parable [that] transports us to a singularly imaginative realm" (Boxoffice). The Emerald Forest is "an exotic and erotic daymare replete with one lushly enrapturing scene after another" (Daily News)! For ten years, engineer Bill Markham (Powers Boothe) has searched tirelessly for his son Tommy who disappeared from the edge of the Brazilian rainforest. Miraculously, he finds the boy living among the reclusive Amazon tribe who adopted him. And that's when Bill's adventure truly begins. For his son (Charley Boorman) is now a grown tribesman who moves skillfully through this beautiful-but-dangerous terrain, fearful only of those who would exploit it. And as Bill attempts to "rescue" him from the savagery of the untamed jungle, Tommy challenges Bill's idea of true civilization and his notions about who needs rescuing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5604 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-02-06
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 114 minutes

Amazon.com
John Boorman's 1985 South American epic never quite gets all of its gears working simultaneously, but it remains an often startling work with an extraordinary performance by the director's own son, Charley Boorman. Powers Boothe plays an American engineer working on a dam project in Brazil. When his young son is seemingly absorbed one day into the dense perils and beauty of the Amazon rain forest, Boothe's character goes on a protracted, 10-year search for him. In the interim, Boorman puts his full storytelling powers to work by characteristically exploring the arcane rhythms and dangers of an indigenous world hidden from ordinary view. Specifically, Boorman leads us into the life of a forest tribe who have assimilated the missing child and who will ultimately send him back with the opposite of his father's pro-development sensibility. The movie is gorgeous to behold, and it's great fun watching Boorman find ever-novel ways of making the same film again and again. But the environmental message and the emotion of the core relationship get in each other's way a bit, preventing the film from uniting on every front. Still, this is a must for Boorman fans. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

staying power
Most movies aren't as good as I remember but this one truly is. I first saw it years ago on VHS. Recently ordered a DVD for my collection. I really hated to pause it. Very engrossing. Great music too. More than an adventure film, it's about family, spirituality, and desecration of the environment. The nudity is tasteful and natural. Ordered a second copy for a family member.

We truly need a Blu Ray of this fine film
This is a truly great film on many levels- most of which have already been explored on prior reviews--
My main reason to add to the list is to encourage others to add their voices to requesting a Blu Ray of this fine film-- it is remarkably beautiful; To another end and amplifying on a prior comment, more information on the true Invisibles of the Rain Forest would most certainly be appreciated !

Emeral Forest: An Amazonian Tale
Having recently seen Apocalypto, I thought I was seeing a remake. The Emerald Forest is an outstanding view of what may be happening to native tribes in our rain forests. But like Apocalypto, it reminds us that any contact between civilizations can be dangerous and destroy developing peoples. I would strongly invite anyone to see both these movies. They are not gentle to the heart, but they carry a strong message.