Daren
I am a little confused, having read this book, returned to the blurb, and had a look on the internet for the 'documentary film' referred to in the blurb. Author Franz, brother Edgar and a friend Bayer, all German, set out for the Amazon to make a film.
The narrative of the book is all about a (quite terrible and cliched) fictional film about an action man type figure making miraculous escapes, getting the girl, losing the girl, surviving scrub fires, Indians, drowning, a piranha attack, any number of other events associated with the Brazilian Amazon. At the conclusion of the book the author refers to the film being called Kautschuk.
IBDB and Wikipedia credit Franz Eichhorn as a writer of a film with this name, which is the story of how the British broke the Brazilian monopoly on natural rubber - ie Englishman Henry Wickham, who smuggled rubber seeds to England in 1876 to break the Brazilian monopoly. Franz's brother Edgar is credited as a photographer.
In the book Franz and a local cowboy named Jose star in the shooting of the film. The narrative follows their adventure in reaching the film locations, trying to entice local talent to feature in the film, and physically filming. There are plenty of heart stopping moments, much illness, injuries and other difficulties associated with travelling around and up the Amazon. The plot of the movie is filmed out of sequence, and aspects of the plot are shared as they film, so the reader never gets a real overview (unless they could be bothered reassembling the parts in order), but as the film they made doesn't seem to exist in the form they filmed it I am really at a bit of a loss as to how it all ties together!
Within the book are fifty black and white photographs, which almost all tie in with the narrative. Many are of flora and fauna (they are big on birds) and people they meet. They are pretty good photographs. Along the way they are helped hugely by a number of individuals who take on guide and fixer roles helping with locations, transport , actors and often inspiration.
While the book isn't confusing per se, the blurb and the actual outcome with films do not all tie up.
A confusing 3 stars!
I am a little confused, having read this book, returned to the blurb, and had a look on the internet for the 'documentary film' referred to in the blurb. Author Franz, brother Edgar and a friend Bayer, all German, set out for the Amazon to make a film.
The narrative of the book is all about a (quite terrible and cliched) fictional film about an action man type figure making miraculous escapes, getting the girl, losing the girl, surviving scrub fires, Indians, drowning, a piranha attack, any number of other events associated with the Brazilian Amazon. At the conclusion of the book the author refers to the film being called Kautschuk.
IBDB and Wikipedia credit Franz Eichhorn as a writer of a film with this name, which is the story of how the British broke the Brazilian monopoly on natural rubber - ie Englishman Henry Wickham, who smuggled rubber seeds to England in 1876 to break the Brazilian monopoly. Franz's brother Edgar is credited as a photographer.
In the book Franz and a local cowboy named Jose star in the shooting of the film. The narrative follows their adventure in reaching the film locations, trying to entice local talent to feature in the film, and physically filming. There are plenty of heart stopping moments, much illness, injuries and other difficulties associated with travelling around and up the Amazon. The plot of the movie is filmed out of sequence, and aspects of the plot are shared as they film, so the reader never gets a real overview (unless they could be bothered reassembling the parts in order), but as the film they made doesn't seem to exist in the form they filmed it I am really at a bit of a loss as to how it all ties together!
Within the book are fifty black and white photographs, which almost all tie in with the narrative. Many are of flora and fauna (they are big on birds) and people they meet. They are pretty good photographs. Along the way they are helped hugely by a number of individuals who take on guide and fixer roles helping with locations, transport , actors and often inspiration.
While the book isn't confusing per se, the blurb and the actual outcome with films do not all tie up.
A confusing 3 stars!