Editorials
Some Idiot Is Petitioning For ‘The Green Inferno’ To Be Boycotted
A few days ago, director Eli Roth spoke about his upcoming cannibal horror film The Green Inferno in an interview, explaining that the characters we’d be seeing on screen were caricatures of SJW’s (“Social Justice Warriors”), those people online who find offense at every single little thing and seemingly don’t find anything in life to enjoy. While cannibal films never really interested me, Roth’s comments shot The Green Inferno to the top of my “must-see” list because those people irritate the hell out of me.
As if on cue, and in a shockingly ironic move, a petition has been created by these SJW’s to have the film boycotted if not outright cancelled.
Here’s the full complaint, direct from the petition page:
Films like this have always portrayed negative stereotypes against indigenous people as brute savages. These films have psychological effect as indigenous people have been through colonial trauma assimilating to white culture being taught self hate. “Westerners are unfortunately ignorant about Amazonian indigenous cultures and depicting them in such a violent story dehumanizes their peoples and couldn’t be farther from reality. Shame on you. As a storyteller you hold a great responsibility to influence others. Propagating such hate towards peoples who have been ravaged and raped for decades by white supremacist culture is not constructive in our fight to save the Amazon. Most indigenous communities are more in tune with nature than you’ll ever be, and would never conceive of such violence for profit. It’s a shame, we should be creating stories than accurately depict indigenous way of life which is holistic, sustainable, spiritual and harmonious with our earth and brothers and sisters. If you want to save the Amazon and stop China from buying leases to drill oil, make a story depicting the corporate shills for the murderers that they really are. You don’t have to create racist, offensive, inaccurate crap to get people to care about the most biodiverse place on the earth. And if you really want to make a difference, give your money to organizations like ours who are the people on the ground standing up for indigenous rights and making tangible change. Indigenous peoples are the key to preserving the Amazon. If we don’t respect and empower them, we will lose the lungs of our planet. They should be honored and respected.” – Amazon Watch
In an update to the petition, it was written, “…Eli Roth has decided to glorify the White Savior Industrial Complex that has plagued indigenous people since the early colonialist days of “kill the Indian, save the man”, while the indigenous people are, of course, cannibalistic savages.”
Ah yes, it’s all about Westerners destroying the native indigenous tribes and nothing at all to do with the governments of the countries where these people reside, right?
The update even explains that the Peruvian government is taking actions that are potentially catastrophic to indigenous tribes:
In January of this year (2014), the Peruvian government greenlighted the Camisea gas project’s expansion to the lands of “uncontacted” Amazon tribes, despite the UN’s recommendation that they first provide an extensive study of the threats the expansion would pose to the aboriginal people. This expansion gives Pluspetrol (Argentina), Hunt Oil (US) and Repsol (Spain) permission to detonate thousands of explosive charges, drill exploratory wells and move hundreds of workers into the Nahua-Nanti Reserve for isolated and uncontacted tribes. This move by the Peruvian government will expose the indigenous people to diseases that they lack the immunity to fight off, it will destroy their homelands and their entire way of life.
But then it continues stating that the biggest problem here is Roth’s movie, not the actions of these governments. Because, as we all know, a movie depicting a savage cannibalistic tribe is far more damaging than these real life tribes actually being displaced and their native lands ravaged.
You know what? At least in Roth’s film these people actually go to the Amazon to try and help protect these tribes. That’s not White Savior Industrial Complex, that’s a group of people getting off their asses and not hiding behind their computer monitors, leaving hateful comments on anything and everything, and actually doing something. These characters in the film are trying to make a change by acting on their indignation. But what bites them in the ass is that they acted too quickly, not taking the time to actually fully learn about what they’re trying to save. Their rush to judge is their undoing. Sound kinda familiar? Thanks petition creator for proving Eli Roth right.
The Green Inferno hits theaters on September 25th.
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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