Embrace of the Serpent (2015)

  This is a fairly weird film.  It's not going to resonate with a lot of people but if you let it, it becomes mesmerizing in its own way.  If you liked Aguirre, the Wrath of God, you'd probably like this one.  In fact, that would be a pretty decent Amazonian double feature now that I think about it.

Karamakate (Nilbio Torres) believes he is the last surviving member of his tribe.  He lives alone in the jungle until he is approached by a dying German explorer named Theo (Jan Bijvoet).  Theo has a rare illness and had been told that Karamakate knows how to make a cure using an extremely rare flower.  In exchange, Theo will take him to the rest of his tribe.  Forty years later, another explorer (Brionne Davis) is following Theo's path, trying to piece together his journey and locate this flower.  Karamakate (Antonio Bolivar) reluctantly agrees to act as guide, even though the memories are painful.

It's nice to see stories told from a non-colonial point of view.  Karamakate is alone in many ways, not least of which is his insistence on maintaining his traditional lifestyle.  This puts him against the rubber barons, the encroachment of Western religions, and at odds with his countrymen that would raze their own homes for profit.  It's not always an easy watch, but that's also an important element.  It shouldn't be.

It's currently streaming on Kanopy.