Il paese del sesso selvaggio (1972)

"You only travel river Tuan where it is wide - where is narrow, is very, very dangerous!"

An opening caption reads:

"In the dense jungle along the often ill defined border between Thailand and Burma, it is still possible to find primitive tribes which have no contact with the outside world. This story was filmed on location with one of these tribes and even though some of the rites and ceremonies shown are perhaps gruesome and repugnant they are portrayed as they are actually carried out. Only the story is imaginary."

English photographer Bradley arrives in Thailand and, after taking in a few of the sights, visits a kickboxing tournament where he rows with his girlfriend who isn't very amused by what she sees. She leaves and Bradley hits the bottle in a nearby bar where he gets into a fight with a knife-wielding local. During the struggle he accidentally stabs the man and is forced to flee. Trying to escape justice, he heads into the jungle by train, arriving in a remote station. He is driven by motorcycle rickshaw (during which they get into an altercation with a van load of locals) to another large village where he spends some time photographing local musicians and dancers.

Bradley continues his journey by boat, heading up river in search of exclusive pictures, shrugging of dire warnings from another local and arranging that should anyone ask about him, no-one should say they've seen him. Bradley and the boatman, Chuan, journey into the night, eventually making camp on the river bank. The next day, the journey continues. Bradley does some diving and takes lots of photographs as the boat makes its torturous way upstream.

Night falls again and the boat again pulls in to the bank for the night. Chuan wants to turn back as he's never been this far up river before, but Bradley insists that they continue on. Bradley begins to miss London and reminisces about his life back home. Next morning, Bradley wakes to find Chuan missing. Searching for the missing boatman, he finds his body in the reeds at eth side of the river, his throat slit. Bradley is suddenly caught in a net cast by a tribe from a nearby village who carry him back trussed up on a pole. As night falls, the villagers hold a ceremony during which they execute two men and cut out their tongues.

Dawn breaks and Bradley is still trussed up in the net, though he's now attracted the attention of a young native woman, the chief's daughter, Maria. Some men arrive and cut him down and dunk him in the river, stabbing at him with sharp sticks. The white haired chief arrives and his daughter persuades the men to let Bradley out of the river. He is taken back to the village where some of the men milk a snake of its venom and use it to coat the tips of their arrows. Bradley is again locked up and wonders if they think he's some kind of fish because of the wet suit he was wearing when they captured him. He rants from his cage, demanding that they let him go, but to no avail.

Next day, Bradley is forced to help the villagers in building some sort of construction but, at Maria's request, is tied to a rope and thrown into the river to stab away at something with a large pole (it isn't really made clear what Bradley is supposed to be doing during this scene...). That night, Maria brings Bradley some food, though it's pretty disgusting and he spits it out, taking a bite of out her instead. She seems more worried for a distraught Bradley than for herself.

Another day dawns and Bradley is visited by an old woman who speaks faltering English, having been rescued by missionaries many years ago. She tells Bradley that he will soon be free, but is interrupted by the arrival of the chief and some of his men. They cut the ropes holding him to a post and take him outside where some of the men are fighting with short swords. He wanders around the village for a while and finds Maria with some friends in the river.

A helicopter suddenly appears and the villagers try to scare it off by throwing spears at it, while Bradley tries to attract its attention. The villagers restrain him and give him a beating by one of the villagers when he tries to struggle. Only the intervention of Maria prevents him from being killed.

That night, the old English speaking woman visits Bradley again who has been tied to his post again. She tends to his wounds and he asks her to help him escape from the village. She says he has to get better again first and warns that the man he fought with earlier that day, the village witch doctor, is to marry Maria soon. She leaves him alone in his prison hut where he has flashbacks to his time in Bangkok and strange red tinted hallucinations of the chief's daughter, her betrothed, insects and reptiles.

Day breaks again and Bradley is again put to work helping with construction in the village. He wonders why the old woman doesn't do something to help him. An accident on one of the buildings leads to the death of one of the young men and that evening, as the sun sets, Bradley watches the villagers as they preside over the dead man's funeral pyre.

Next morning, the man's ashes are scattered and his Bradley watches from the river as the young men of the village queue up to have sex with his widow. The old woman explains that it is an ancient custom, that the woman is no longer tied to her late husband and is free to take a lover. Using the ceremony as cover, Bradley tries to escape the village. The alarm is raised and a group of young men set off after him. When they catch up with him, Bradley puts up a spirited fight and kills one of his pursuers, the young man betrothed to the chief's daughter. The helicopter appears again, but Bradley is too exhausted to attract its attention, collapsing on the banks of the river.

When he comes to, he is again back at the village. The chief orders him to be taken away and he's tied to another pole. That night, Bradley is the victim of a strange ceremony - as the villagers wander around chanting, he is lightly whipped and the old woman tells him that in three days he will be accepted as part of the tribe, thanks to the intervention of Maria. The ceremony continues with Bradley tied to a revolving pole throughout the rest of the night as the men fire darts at him.

Next day, the villagers entertain themselves by setting a mongoose against a cobra while Bradley is staked out on a slab watching the birds of prey circling above him. The day wears on and Bradley's condition deteriorates As night falls, he is taken inside and tended to by the old woman and visited by the chief's son

Day two of his ordeal begins with him stringing up what look like dead crocodiles as Maria looks on appreciatively. He watches some of the locals eating giant bugs for a while, then night falls again and this time Bradley is forced to watch as a monkey is tied to a table and the top of its head chopped off. Bradley then has to join the chief and other tribe elders in eating the monkey's brains. The chief then presents him with a sword, formally accepting him as part of the tribe.

Next day, Bradley watches a cock fight which is interrupted by a woman rushing up in a state of extreme anxiety and taking her husband away. Bradley follows to find their young son dying from diphtheria. He offers to help save him and performs a tracheotomy to help him breath properly.

As a reward for saving the boy, Bradley is allowed to take part in a ceremony with the other young men of the village. Maria is placed naked and blindfold in a hut and the men take it in turns to put their hands through holes in the wall to molest her. She is so impressed by the way that Bradley touches her that she chooses to marry him instead Maria cavorts through the jungle and, with the chief's blessing, Bradley sets off after her, catches her and they make love before splashing about in the river for a while.

Later, Maria takes part in a ceremony which involves sacrificing a snake that seems to be some of fertility ritual. While this is going on, Bradley is out hunting with the other men and they catch a pig which Bradley returns home to his new wife. Bradley has started to teach Maria to speak English and she tells him that she loves him before the make love again.

A crocodile is dragged into the village and slaughtered as Bradley is reunited with the boy whose life he saved. Then he pays a visit to the chief who gets him to drink something and says something about Maria. Bradley rushes home and Maria tells him that she is pregnant. To celebrate they run through the forest and have sex in a dusty pit, watched by the jealous witch doctor. Later Maria has a funny turn and is tended to by the old woman.

Bradley has been with the tribe now for six months and has accepted his place in the village, happy with his lot. Inevitably, tragedy strikes as the village is threatened by a tribe of savage cannibals who first attack and gang rape a young woman. Her wounded lover manages to stagger back to the village where Bradley is trying to teach Maria about his life in London and comparing it his life in the jungle. Bradley finds the injured man who warns him about the intruders. Bradley sets off to investigate and finds the attackers eating the dismembered body of the young woman.

He returns to Maria who has again been taken unwell, and packs her off to the village while he leads a group of men against the intruders. A fight breaks out and Bradley captures the leader of the raiding party, hacking out his tongue in revenge for their attack.

Back at the village, Maria is dying. She loses her sight and Bradley says he will spend the night by her side, watching over her. But instead, he sneaks off with her, helped by the old woman, hoping to reach civilization in search of the medicines that will help save Maria's life. They are caught by the witch doctor and the chief who torture and eventually kill the old woman, but Bradley manages to get away. The villagers set off after Bradley and Maria, but they are already having problems of their own, menaced by a pair of elephants wading in the river. Pulling into the shore they are captured by the villagers and returned to the tribe. Maria's condition grows progressively worse, and she is confined to bed.

The village is soon attacked again by the cannibals who set fire to some of their huts. The next morning, the survivors of the attack tried to rebuild as Bradley supervises at the birth of his son. The arrival of a large black butterfly is seen as an omen of death and sure enough, Maria dies shortly after giving birth and taking part in a blood bonding ritual with Bradley.

Bradley shows his son to the other villagers then wanders off into the jungle to vent his rage on some skulls hanging from trees. He has flashbacks to his time with Maria (including hysterical slow motion shots of her running through the trees...) and then sees a helicopter flying overhead again. This time, he decides not to signal to it, instead helping to hide the tribe from prying eyes. He leads the tribe in rebuilding their ruined village.

KEVIN LYONS

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009