Review by Cervo
(11/3/99)

Hector Barbenco's 3-hour film about Amazonia is a penetrating, surreal dream journey into the human spirit. While much of the struggle for supremacy in the film is harsh, the realities it presents are deeply ironic and elegant. It is an unflinching elaboration of what it means to be human, in all its beauty, cruelty, spirit, and flesh.

The workings of the plot are complex and fragmented by design, as though the experience of reality is cast into the same mist that hovers over the verdant jungle where the film unfolds. Everything human is ruled by this world of moist growth. Even though the film avoids graphic sexuality, it is seething with the humid scent of the great river sliding through the mother jungle.

There are at least three forces in the film. White people are represented by two families of missionaries, played by John Lithgow, Daryl Hannah, Aidan Quinn, and Kathy Bates. They behave like the missionaries of Michener's Hawaii, working to bring enlightenment to the natives in the form of clothing and guilt -- and all four have too much of both. To our delight, Ms. Hannah sheds hers.

The second force are the tribesmen, who occupy territory slated for economic exploitation. Unlike most such films, these people exhibit normal human failings -- stupidity, vanity, bigotry, greed, and sloth -- just like most of us. This makes their moments of nobility that much more poignant.

The third force is the unseen fist of capitalism, which in the end must kill the native populations and drive out the missionaries in order to access the minerals in the land. We sense this group as a constant presence, finally manifesting itself by hurling bombs from insectile helicopters into the native compound.

In fact all of the characters in this film show weakness, short-sightedness, and venality. Most of all they are victims of self-delusion, using faith as a shield against truth, or seeing life as a game where winning validates their worth.

Each of them is also capable of being wonderfully generous as well, and the direction allows the actors to go further into themselves than lesser films might. Lithgow's preacher is a nasty coward, but he is finally only human in saving his skin. Hannah finds that her religious fervor is really only a mask for her sensual appetite. Quinn finds himself worshipping a god far more terrible than the Yahweh of the Old Testament and yields to that higher power.

By far the best performance is that of the astonishing Kathy Bates, who appears briefly in the nude both in spirit and in fact. Driven to the brink of insanity by the death of her son, she goes over the edge when she loses the illusion of control with which she has gripped her pinched life.

Most remarkable is Tom Berenger as a soldier-of-fortune Sioux Indian gone native among the amazon tribesmen. He literally leaps out of the sky and parachutes down to join them after having had drug induced visions. Like Miss Hannah, he acts with his body -- beautifully muscled and alive as he works each scene, but not with the tended form of a gym rat or the hulking bulk of a professional athlete. His almost wordless performance is subtle and lithe. I find Mr. Berenger very dull in other films, but here he is quite touching.

In fact for those who find well sculpted bodies (particularly rear ends) a source of delight, this film is quite captivating. That is, of course, because Barbenco is celebrating the elemental in nature. What, after all, is more elemental than the experience of one's body?

The production values are well crafted to the film's advantage. It deals with the characters' state of mind, so elaborate camera technique would layer the film too much. Regardless of whether you think film is primarily about people or cameras, it is also about dreams and visions, and this film works that layer of consciousness very well.

At Play in the Fields of the Lord is longer than standard Hollywood fare, and it deserves to be. Some plot elements are murky, but the central drama of the evolving characters more than makes up for that. Sadly, the film was poorly received by critics, but unusual films often are, and this one is well worth screening.