Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale (2000)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Directors:

David Shapiro
Laurie Gwen Shapiro

Writers:

David Shapiro (writer)
Laurie Shapiro (writer)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A retired gay anthropologist revisits the native cultures he studied in his youth.

Plot Keywords:

Peru | New Guinea | Homosexuality | Cannibalism | Anthropology

Awards:

5 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Tobias Schneebaum	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Norman Mailer

Also Known As:

Once I Was a Cannibal (USA) (working title)
Wild Man (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for depiction of mature thematic material.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R

Company:

Lifer Films

Movie Connections:

Features "The Charlie Rose Show" (1991)

WATCH OUT FOR YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS!

Schneebaum is a very charismatic man and to me the adventurous young anthropologist who headed into the jungles of Peru and Papua, New Guinea had much more huevos than most. And reducing him to the gay, feminine, non aggressive catagory,as being the only way he could be accepted into the tribe is just pure horse sh**. It only brings about the pure ignorance of what most people think 'gay' is...If Schneebaum wanted to prove that to be left to their natural inklings a tribe would run the gambit of sexual desires and he participated in the homosexual rite's does not mean that homosexuality was not there... and the most the other anthropologist's could come up with was; "he didn't keep a therapeutic distance" from the people he was studying.

It was in the Amazon Valley that something happened to Tobias, was it the raid on the other village and the killing of that tribe, or was it the eating of human flesh, had he almost gone over the brink. He was a painter until that experience and after, he never painted again. As far as the cannibal part, and why he did it, who knows as Tobias cannot come up with a logical answer, and as far as judging him for doing it, one must face his own demons in a situation that brought him to the brink. Had he gone to far,did the jungle cast him out?

It is a strange movie, but, although the subject matter is off the scale, it was entertaining. And one must give Tobias a nod for having the fortitude to go back and face his demons, and stare them down. I'm sure most people would not think that a "gay" thing to do. 8/10