The Emerald Forest : The hallucinogenics… And the rating.

The hallucinogenics… And the rating.

What is it that they take? Snorted out of the pipe? The green stuff?

I think it's something like ayahuasca, which is a root which grows in the Amazon.

Also, how on earth did this film manage to get a "12" certificate in the UK? With the drugs and the brothel and the nudity? I know it was unsexualised nudity for the most part, but in the brothel there was that bit where one of the tribal girls escapes whilst clearly actually in the act with some guy, she just pulls off when Tommee calls.

Pretty excellent film though. Just wondered about those things.

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Re: The hallucinogenics… And the rating.

if you go to http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/ClassifiedWorks/811C9D28B7BFAA0380256FBE0036A356?OpenDocument

you can see that it was recently re-certificated. Maybe the scene in the brothel has been edited out to some extent. The 12 certificate decision mentions only 'frequent mild nudity', bit the 15 says 'moderate' for sex and nudity. The nudity was within the concept of normal atire for their culture, so I don't see why that couldn't even have a PG certificate.

I'm not sure about the drugs, I wonder what certificate you'd get if the story involved teenagers in the UK taking LSD and having hallucinations?

Re: The hallucinogenics… And the rating.

andyd-1 says that maybe the movie was cut to get a UK 12 cert. According to the BBFC website (http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/c2fb077ba3f9b33980256b4f002da32c/811c9d28b7bfaa0380256fbe0036a356?OpenDocument) this was not the case.

I think it got 12 for the reasons that:

1- the drug use is in a ritualized context, not recreational.

2- the nudity is not sexual in nature.

3- the brothel scen is not at that explicit.




"I think you're a load of old crap too, Mr Mulligan!"

Re: The hallucinogenics… And the rating.

I believe the drug the tribe uses is yopo, also known as nu-nu, which they'd probably call "medicine". Similar in effect to ayahuasca, but not quite as harsh, the psychedelic ingredient is DMT. It is made from the beans of a tree, which are ground up and inhaled through a pipe that's usually made from an animal bone.
http://www.drugs-plaza.com/herbals_yopo.php

Re: The Hallucinogenics… And the rating.


In the United States, "The Emerald Forest" was rated "R" where those under 17 years of age are not admitted to the theatrical presentation without a parent or adult guardian.

There have been a number of movies to feature 'native nudity', over the last few decades, like "The Emerald Forest". Many of these films have been rated "PG" or "PG-13" (i.e. "The Bounty" and "1492: Conquest for Paradise").

I suspect that the "R" rating was given because of some sexuality in some of the nude scenes. The two scenes that come to mind would be when Tomme and his bride begin to get intimate and during the tribal raid at the brothel. Also, violence is just bloody enough, though not by much, to bring the rating into the "R" rated realm. The overall tone of the picture, complete with drug induced halicinations help round out this U.S. film rating.

Should this movie have been rated "R" in the U.S.? Probably. In my opinion, "The Emerald Forest" does ride the 'ratings fencepost', but the nudity with clients in the brothel pretty much justifies the "R" rating here.

That's my take.


~ MC2
"The reservist formerly known as JO2"

Re: The Hallucinogenics… And the rating.

The violence might have something to do with the "R" rating as well. However it's best not to try and make too much sense of the MPAA's ratings decisions- they are often very inconsistent, and the criteria they use is vague.

Re: The hallucinogenics… And the rating.

the psychedelic ingredient in ayahuasca is DMT too, as in most if not all hallucinogens.

Re: The hallucinogenics… And the rating.

Yes, in ayahuasca too. But LSD, psylocibin, and ibogaine (the West African equivalent to yopo and ayahuasca) do not contain DMT. Maybe you mean tryptamine, which seems to be a common element to many of these inspiring substances.

Re: The hallucinogenics… And the rating.

I watched this movie 15 years ago at school when I was twelve years old and it didn't spoil me. All I remember of it is impressive shots of the forest a tribal war and some indian climbing a appartment.

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Re: The hallucinogenics… And the rating.

There was a very similar ritual in the Venezuelan movie Jerico. They would use a long pipe to blow the hallucinogen into someone's nose. But the way they show it in Jerico is more realistic--kind of frightening, actually.

Fans of Emerald Forest might want to try to get ahold of Jerico (which is pretty rare, unfortunately), since it has a similar situation of a white person living among rain forest Indians.

If anyone is interested, here is my survey of movies about Central and South American Indians:
http://www.nativeamericanfilms.org

Re: The hallucinogenics… And the rating.

I don't believe it is ayahuasca. Ayahuasca is drank and not inhaled.

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Re: The hallucinogenics… And the rating.

My parents taped this movie back when I was 12, and concidering my friends and I would secretly watch this movie every day since we where 12 right up untill internet became something available at my place when I was about 20, and we would allways fast forward to the "good scenes" (nudity that's all we'd ever care about 20 years ago)and then pause, and play in slow motion those scénes and then turn off the movie after having "admired" native culture (especially the part of their culture that doesn't like to wear clothes)....

....I'd say for young boys it doesn't matter if it's sexualised or not, starting age 11/12 anything better then the see through bra's in cataloques is gold! and for us young boys! That movie was the mother of all gold veins! I still don't know how the movie goes. Even though I've put the tape in the vcr a thousand times!


Young boys will sexualize all nudity, back when we where like 13 or 14 there was this australian movie on tv, and a woman in the movie was being terrorized and raped and abused violently by some men, and all of us just shouted! yay boobies! 1 friend even grabbed his ... and you know...

LOL– quite hilarious…

That's an interesting and realistic treatment on the sexuality of young men. It goes back even further than ages 11 and 12, I'm afraid. I myself and many other males I've known experienced sexual desires as early as toddler range.


Anyhow, that aside, I think you're missing out if you've yet to finally give this movie the proper watch it deserves. I saw it for the first time and it was phenomenally unique, powerful and moving.






I'm not a control freak, I just like things my way
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