Canaima, O Deus das Selvas

These type of movies can be seen time after time with the same interest as in the first time you saw them. CANAIMA is very similar in its settings to DONA BARBARA, another Mexican film made by Maria Felix back in the same time frame, the mid 1940's. Both movies are based on novels written by Venezuela's greatest writer, Romulo Gallegos. The surroundings for these 2 great movies is the same, Venezuela jungles and immense savannahs. The fact that a few persons held the richness of that Country and the vast majority of their people were illiterate and poor, plus the fact that men were supposed to be "macho" in order to survive, made these movies very profound in their philosophy. DONA BARBARA, even when she was a woman, survived because she was "macho". It couldn't be otherwise. The "law of the jungle" was the law and the powerful used their strength to subdue their people. These 2 movies are best enjoyed when seen in Spanish. The richness and great control of this language that Gallegos had, including the slang and local expressions plus the "inside" knowledge of the fears and anxieties of the Venezuelan peasants of those times, made following the dialogs an exquisite experience. I recommend both pictures without any reserves, specially if you speak the Spanish language.