Walking the Amazon

When i saw the title and description of this documentary i thought it would be awesome: A documentary about people walking the entire length of a famous river. But alas, this was not the nature/anthropology-focused documentary i had hoped for but the story of egomaniac white jackasses carried through the jungle by their local guides. The camera firmly aimed at the constant childish bickering instead of the beautiful landscape or the exotic villages they come across. If this is the stuff English soldiers are made off i now understand why the English empire has crumbled: pretending to be badass while the locals make fun of your cluelessnes and your total lack of preparation.

I read about this expedition/adventure when it was on, but only now caught it on TV. Strange there's no reviews on this on IMDb.

When I looked at the TV timetable, I had to come online to make sure this was only two 45 minute episodes. It felt really short, considering most travel series have at least six episodes and this expedition covering two years and it really was this short. Then again, is this a travel show or a feature length documentary as it's stated here it's 96 minutes. It's also a bit difficult to criticize the short length considering the expedition itself was of course the main interest, not necessarily making a TV show from it. That's what I assume anyway.

In any case, the documentary feels as if it only scratches the surface. It's interesting, well paced - you want to keep watching, but still not that much really happens. What happens on screen seem somewhat random. Some scenes being a bit on the extreme side, like preparing/eating a monkey or digging a larvae out of ones scalp. On the other hand you don't really get to know who Ed Stafford even is, there's no background covered, nothing. Only quickly mentioned he's a former soldier.

There's very little shown how they put up a camp in the evening, how they stack up with supplies or food, did they never even have a flu. I mean there's so much that could happen during two years of Amazon expedition, but you only see very little.

I'm sure there was so much going on behind the scenes here, easily enough to fill a few more episodes. I came online afterwards to check some details (Staffords tooth appearing and disappearing for example), and came upon a few interesting clips on his video diary. I need to check them thru later, because quickly it looks as if all the interesting stuff is there, rather than in this documentary. May have to check the book too at some point.

What comes to Staffords charisma on screen, he's not really Michael Palin or any of the popular travel show hosts. He's OK and clear with this words, but he's not really a TV host. I'd say at times he even seems a bit on the loony side, but can't really blame him, it takes a certain character to do such a journey and the clips him talking are so short, you don't really get to know him during these 90 minutes.

In the end I feel this expedition should've had a better delivery on screen, considering it's really an amazing achievement. This documentary does not give it full credit.