The epic story of the first contact, encounter, approach, betrayal and, eventually, life-transcending friendship, between Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman, last survivor of his people, and two scientists that, over the course of 40 years, travel through the Amazon in search of a sacred plant that can heal them. Inspired by the journals of the first explorers of the Colombian Amazon, Theodor Koch-Grunberg and Richard Evans Schultes.
Ratings
Curator score: 9.3/10
IMDb: 7.8/10
Letterboxd: 4.23/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Metacritic: 82
TMDB: 7.7/10
Director
Ciro Guerra
Production
Nortesur Producciones, Buffalo Films, Caracol Televisión, Ciudad Lunar, MC Producciones, Dago García Producciones
Cast
Nilbio Torres, Antonio Bolívar, Jan Bijvoet, Brionne Davis, Yauenkü Miguee, Luigi Sciamanna, Nicolás Cancino, Pediwake Daniel Martínez, José Sabogal
Where to watch
Philo, Night Flight Plus, OVID
Curator Review
Verdict
A visually arresting, spiritually charged Amazon journey that blends historical tragedy, myth, and colonial critique into something singular. Its slow, hypnotic rhythm and black-and-white imagery make it one of the most distinctive adventure dramas of the decade.
Best for
Viewers who like meditative, art-house adventure films
People interested in colonial history and indigenous perspectives
Fans of atmospheric, visually bold cinema
Audiences open to slow-burn, symbolic storytelling
Skip if
You want a fast-paced survival adventure
You prefer straightforward plotting and clear exposition
You’re looking for a light or uplifting watch
You dislike films that are more experiential than plot-driven
Overview
Embrace of the Serpent is the kind of film that feels less watched than entered. Ciro Guerra turns an Amazon expedition into a haunting meditation on memory, extraction, and the violence of colonial contact, using stark black-and-white photography to make the jungle feel both immense and haunted.
Worth noting
What lingers most is its sense of spiritual and cultural loss. The film moves between timelines with a quiet confidence, contrasting the arrogance of outsiders with the fragile continuity of indigenous knowledge. It is patient, severe, and often mesmerizing.
Bottom line
This is not an adventure film in the conventional sense, though it contains the bones of one. It is closer to a trance, or a lament, with moments of awe and dread that build into something deeply affecting. For viewers willing to meet it on its own terms, it is unforgettable.
Top Letterboxd reviews
russman (4.5★) · 751 likes
Any movie with a tapir in it gets at least 4 stars
Vilu (5★) · 587 likes
Not to be dramatic but I had forgotten cinema could be this beautiful and hypnotic.
davidehrlich (4★) · 382 likes
From Francis Ford Coppola to Werner Herzog, maverick filmmakers have always been entranced by the madness of the jungle. Colombian director Ciro Guerra's Embrace of the Serpent doesn't shy away from the violence of Apocalypse Now or the delirium of Fitzcarraldo, but his trippy dive into the dark heart of his homeland is ultimately like nothing you've seen before.
In 1909, sick and scraggly Dutch explorer Theodor von Martius (Borgman star Jan Bijvoet) travels up the Amazon river in search… more
Johnny Clyde · 341 likes
Movies I can't enjoy as an indigenous person list.
Alright here we go.
This is a film I don't want to write a review for, but feel that I need to. When I made my list, "Movies that I can’t enjoy as an indigenous person."I got asked a few times what I thought of this film "Embrace of the Serpent."
I had honestly avoided it for so long because the cover photo is a white man sitting in front… more
Steven Sheehan (5★) · 213 likes
We are taken through time and space during two hours in the heart of the Amazon, transported from our own world and immersed into a cultural viewpoint rarely seen or understood elsewhere. Ciro Guerra magically achieves that, viewing the West and its destructive tendencies through the eyes of a man who has seen his heritage corrupted by colonial invaders.
Basing the story on the journals of European explorers who visited unseen tribes in the 20th century, we move seamlessly between… more