Sick Birds Die Easy

"Sick Birds Die Easy" (2014 DVD release; 86 min.) is a documentary about a group of misfits and druggies who decide to travel to Gabon, Africa in search of Iboga. You might ask, what is Iboga? As the documentary opens, we get various statements to the effect that Iboga is a powerful hallucinant plant that somehow would cure hard drug addicts of their addiction. Writer-director Nik Fackler gathers a small group of his druggie friends to go to the rain forest in Gabon, Africa (the only place in the world where you can find Iboga), and they'll film the entire experience. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: first and foremost, be prepared for one wild and wacky ride! The group's trek into the jungle (to get to the village where they are hoping to partake in an Iboga ceremony) takes a number of unexpected, at times bewildering, turns. It of course makes for good viewing. The movie at a certain point reminded me of the surreal atmosphere that occurs at the very end of "Apocalypse Now", and surreal is certainly a good word to describe this documentary. Unfortunately, Ross Brockley, one of the guys in the group, is pretty much an unlikeable person yet he gets more screen time than anyone else. I suppose credit must go to director Fackler that I felt compelled and intrigued enough that I stuck around to the end to see how it would all play out (the ending 'ceremony'). This movie is not for everyone, and this documentary has gotten widely varying reviews. I was skeptical as I started watching but when all was said and done, it was okay. Not super. Not bad. Somewhere in between.

The DVD release comes with the original soundtrack CD (31 tracks; 52 min.), which is a mix of direct snippets from the movies (including various spoken scenes) as well as other instrumental music of various kinds (mostly guitar noodling; synth-inspired abstracts, etc.). The music is composed by Sam Martin, who is also part of the group traveling to Gabon and featured prominently in the documentary.

Not recommended for everyone. But if you are interested in the subject, this is a real treat. Completely uncensored and incredibly weird. The camera work fitted perfectly with the story. As others have mentioned, this reminded me of Apocalypse now.

Quite a sad story all in all, a bunch of westerners get lost in the jungle and in their minds. I went holy s***, Jesus and wtf many times throughout this film. I hope all the best for the creator of this movie, at least he seems to be on the right track.

I really do hope that western culture will stay respectful and not go about and contaminate the Bwiti culture by ignorant iboga tourism - read ignorant tourism, considerate tourism is fine. Iboga has a lot to offer to the west, but it has to be treated with utmost respect, these things are beyond anything that any person from the west could ever come close to understanding unless you would go through proper initiation. *end of rant*

Respect other cultures and the plant teachers, peace out. Iboga is not a party drug but ancient sacred medicine, I hope this became clear in this movie.