Other Worlds

What is the right approach to healing, knowledge and self-realisation? Armed with a DVcamera and a dangerous amount of curiosity, director Jan Kounen begins an Apocalypse Now-like journey into the Amazonian rainforests of Peru to find the heart of Shipiboindian shamanism. Guided by medicine man Ketsenbetsa, Kounen travels into himself, daring to use his own body as a dummy in hundreds of ceremonies. He drinks the wine of death and faces endless states of death and rebirth, thus getting knowledge on the subject otherwise not easily acquired. Given this, Kounen is able to present both sides of sha-
manism: outside and inside. Shamanic chants, hard to swallow-drinks, dances and sacrificial animals are mixed with the director's own visions, visualised in haunting computer animated sequences. The result, which should appeal to both sceptics and believers, is informative even though the subject seems hard to grasp. The crosscutting play between western world interviews and frightening clips from rituals, gives a certain tension to the film. You seldom see a director lose control in his own film like Kounen does, but on the other hand that is how he convinces us.

MARTIN FROSTBERG

Premiärstatus
Svensk premiär: Producent
Hugues Darmois: Manus
Jan Kounen: Foto
Jan Kounen, Anne Paris: Musik
Jean-Jaques Hertz: Talat språk
French, English, Spanish