The Mountain of the Cannibal God 4K 1978

" Cannibals in Italian cinema is a topic for a separate conversation, although the main reason for it would be the films of the famous franchise by Ruggero Deodato and Umberto Lenzi. As for Sergio Martino's film, The Mountain of the Cannibal God, if anyone remembers it at all, it is only fleetingly and incidentally. And why remember it, really? If you compare this film with Cannibal Holocaust, it seems like innocent adventure entertainment for family viewing, with a guest star to delight the eyes of the head of this fictional family. The “star” here was the first “Bond girl” Ursula Andress, and since the plot of the film a priori implied the appearance of her character topless on screen, there was something for the eyes to feast on.

Nevertheless, despite its apparent harmlessness, the film's release was accompanied by serious censorship problems. Its creators got too carried away with naturalistic shots of wildlife, lavishly showing the cruel world of the jungle with its entire food chain. And since computer effects were unheard of in those days, scenes such as a python eating a live monkey were filmed in such a way that the authors could not later say that “no animals were harmed.” In other words, the unfortunate monkey was simply fed to the giant snake without hesitation, and there are many similar scenes (perhaps not as shocking, but still...) in the film, which led to its temporary ban in a number of countries.

Unlike our smaller brothers, Sergio Martino decided not to particularly mock the human actors, nor to send them to the wild jungles of New Guinea (the film was shot in relatively civilized Ceylon). The story of the search for the missing Professor Stevenson, who set off for a mysterious mountain in search of treasure, is very much in the spirit of Victorian adventure stories and does not claim to be original. A white man overcomes the resistance of hostile jungles and vicious native tribes, bringing the light of civilization to a wild land. It is not difficult for anyone familiar with the books of Rudyard Kipling, Louis Jacolliot, or Louis Boussenard to predict almost every twist in the plot. There is nothing here that resembles the provocations of Cannibal Holocaust. The “bad” natives are conscientiously opposed to the “good” ones, who live in peace, illuminated by the light of Christianity under the guidance of the missionary Father Moses. The “good” white people achieve their goal, the ‘bad’ ones perish, and so on and so forth. Scenes of violence and murder are very limited in number and are shown almost exclusively on the “bad” natives, who must be punished on the basis of Christian mercy. In general, it is a completely normal adventure film, spiced up in the spirit of the free-spirited 70s with a small number of scenes featuring a naked and bound Ursula Andress (so that “dad doesn't get bored”). Today, of course, it looks anachronistic and, to state the obvious, a bit boring even for an avid fan of the cinema of that era, but the magnificent scenery shots dispel this boredom somewhat. As for the shocking scenes with animals, in this case, they could have been safely cut from the film—they have no impact on the development of the plot and do not even create any special atmosphere. Giancarlo Ferrando's camera copes perfectly with this without them. So, for those who are particularly impressionable, I would advise closing your eyes at the appropriate moments – and everything will be okay!

Oh, yes—today we mustn't forget about political correctness... Well, that's only today... Back then, Sergio Martino had never even heard of such a perversion. White people are good, natives are evil. Everything is clear and understandable, and there's no need for pleasantries.