Brooding and provoking movie mainly dealing with a merciless , relentless chase to a jaguar and many other things . An old man called Antonio Bolívar (Richard Dreyfuss , though director originally envisaged Morgan Freeman in the lead role) lives in a small village in the wild jungle . Antonio is a thoughtful veteran who has been living with Jivaro Indians who reduce human heads and has learned a lot of things from them such as hunting by means of blowpipe . Meanwhile , he reads loving novels such as ¨To love and to be loved¨ and ¨Lovers of the forgotten garden¨ and falls in love for a beautiful village girl (Cathy Tyson) , Mayor's girlfriend . There governs a corrupt as well as stiff-upper-lip Mayor (Timothy Spall) in charge of Town Hall Mayoral Office . The grumpy Mayor is a ¨Cacique¨ who coerces the natives to vote to him , giving them liquors and privileges . When a savage jaguar kills people , the Mayor organizes a posse to track down the animal . The motley group is formed by Bolívar , the itinerant dentist Rubicondo (Hugo Weaving) , villagers (Guillermo Toledo , Luis Hostalot) and natives . Antonio is forced to confront a dangerous female jaguar and his own past through the sacrificial killing of the beast he has grown to love. In the jungle, the one who survives is the one that moves.
This jungle adventure yarn is full of interesting dialogs , moving scenes , thrills , and results to be slow-moving but entertaining . The film is pretty well with a nice sense of pace but also some holes in the screenplay . During this exciting tale we share the old man's memories , scenes of a past existence , records and relationships with his deceased wife and the Amazon tribe who healed him . The yarn has a complex narration , including intelligently inserted flashbacks along with some well-paced hunting scenes through of the capture of wildlife by the hunters and being based on a novel by Luis Sepúlveda . Filmmaker Rolf De Heer wrote and shot this exciting as well as thoughtful jungle story and Richard Dreyfuss , Timothy Spall , Hugo Weaving star in it , which should guarantee a high quality excitement and entertainment . Nice support cast , many of them Spanish players such as Luis Hostalot and Guillermo Toledo . All of them , contribute towards compensating for the flaws and gaps in the plot .
Sensitive and lively soundtrack by Fernando Sancho and Graham Tardif . Luxurious and glamorous color photograph by cameraman Denis Lenoir filmed on location in Guyane, Départements d'Outre-Mer, France , though the film was originally going to be filmed in Venezuela, South America. The flick was compellingly produced by Michelle De Boca and the Spanish producer Iñaqui Nuñez, the latter has financed good films such as Poniente , Sabotage , Marujas Asesinas and The ninth gate . The motion picture was well directed by Rolf De Heer . In the early stages of development, the director asked for final cut thinking that he would not get it, but he did . Rolf de Heer was born on May 4, 1951 in Heemskerk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands . He is a director , writer and producer, known for Dingo (1991) , Dance Me to My Song (1998) , Bad Boy Bubby (1993), Alexandra's Project (2003) The tracker (2002) , Ten Canoes (2006) and this one his best movie ¨The Old Man Who Read Love Stories¨ (2001) . Rating : Better than average . Well worth watching .
