A group of student activists travel from New York City to the Amazon to save the rainforest. However, once they arrive in this vast green landscape, they soon discover that they are not alone… a...
The Green Inferno sets the activism world ablaze with Roth’s juvenile and insufferable approach. He needs to get over himself, as it’s tarnishing fairly decent material that could’ve been so much more. Apparently paying homage to Italian cannibal features such as ‘Cannibal Holocaust’, yet clearly misunderstanding their original purpose. Social commentary on modern civilisation by comparing Western society to that of the indigenous “savages”. Exploiting every aspect of sensationalism to explore a new culture. Time has passed though. Nearly three decades in fact. Deforestation threatens these tribes, wiping them out. Yet Roth, not one to shy away from controversy, depicts these “savages” in such a one-dimensional approach that the film evolves into a harmful message in neo-colonialism. Not to mention its technically inept. A group of social-activists set out to Peru to stop lumbering companies from destroying the Amazon, only to be then taken by a tribe of cannibals to which they must try and escape.
Roth’s filmography has always revolved around gore. ‘Cabin Fever’, ‘Hostel’ and even ‘Thanksgiving’ to a certain extent. The man has an eye for blood, and exploits it particularly well in this. Limbs ripped apart. Eyes gouged out. Spears piercing through necks. Enough to keep the squeamish looking away, but weaker than strawberry jam for mature audiences. And that’s primarily due to the woeful acting. Diabolical. Not a single acceptable performance. The screams of pain were disingenuous. The general conversations were stilted. The expressions non-existent. Laughable. Never thought I’d see a cannibalistic comedy. What doesn’t assist in Roth’s screenplay? All characters were unlikeable. Detestable even. The students, the indigenous tribe, the private militia and the petrochemical company. Heck, even Justine’s father was depicted as a pompous UN official. Absurdly ostentatious. When characters say such fruitful lines of dialogue such as “activism is gay”, well you’re about to unleash this beast.
The entire purpose of this exploitative mess was misguided, commentating on nothing. Roth’s involvement only further descended this conflagration into the realms of immaturity. Puerility. Unsophistication. “Yeah I wanted to the film to look like a Werner Herzog or Terrence Malick film”. Firstly, don’t even compare yourself to those acclaimed masters. Secondly, they use subtlety. Where’s the nuance here Eli? The satirical aura is instantly diminished when you force characters to masturbate over savaged peers and explode their guts whilst profusely apologising. Something tells me that scene hits more notes thematically than anything else shown. Asinine it its purest form.
The conclusive one-sided battle exhumes the wrong message, with a consequential taped interview falsifying the entire ordeal. As if Roth was forced to implement a positive result on social-activism. Foreshadowed right from the initial journey to Peru. Not only that, but the credits include the Twitter handles of the cast and crew whilst also setting up a potential sequel. Never questioned life so much.
Despite the homage to gory flicks of old, enveloped in gloriously green cinematography, The Green Inferno infuriates more than it entertains. Cumbersome, predictable and incredibly weak. With its infantile narrative exposure, Roth cements himself as a director who is self-important as much as he is amateurish.
