BBQ Me Me Lai

Rathko

Viewed the same week as 'Cannibal Ferox', Ultimo Mondo Cannibale was disappointing. The linear storyline is almost non-existent and makes no attempt to provide any twists and turns along the way. The first half of the movie is more than a little tedious – a group is set upon by tribes people, Foschi is captured, stripped naked, and thrown into a prison from where he observes the tribes people slaughtering several animals. Finally, the movie hots up a little. Foschi escapes with the equally naked Me Me Lai, breaking her wild spirit through the ubiquitous rape scene, and they hike through the jungle. Me Me ends up as supper for the cannibals and Foschi goes tribal on their asses.

First, the good points: The location shooting, as usual with these exploitation flicks, really makes the movie. The scenes in the tribe's enormous cave bring a scale and grandeur to the art direction way beyond the budgetary constraints, and the sense of living in a humid, leech infested, green hell is effortlessly conveyed. The performances are adequate, though the actors, and Foschi in particular, go above and beyond the call of duty. You can't help but admire an actor who is willing to crawl naked through the jungle for several weeks in the name of Italian exploitation. The scenes of gore, though few and far between, are very well executed - the preparation and evisceration of Me Me Lai is a highlight, the eating of fresh entrails beautifully photographed in the flickering firelight. Though the movie can't avoid the vaguely racist implications of the cannibal genre, there is an unusual sense of authenticity about the tribe, and through looking at their social rituals, the cannibals come off as surprisingly believable.

The bad points, however, threaten to overwhelm the entire movie. Not least, most of the narrative is dull and repetitious, with endless scenes of wandering through the jungle, and Foschi's imprisonment seems to go on forever with nothing actually happening. The violence is minimal, with none of the appalled disbelief expected of the genre. But ultimately, I was most irritated by the complete lack of story development. I don't expect Fellini, but I expect something more developed than the seemingly random stringing together of scenes.

An interesting addition to the man-against-the-wilderness genre, but nothing special.

score 6/10

Rathko 6 May 2005

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1074792/