When the film opens, a small
plane is in trouble, preparing for a crash landing, as a tribe below watches.
When the two survivors emerge from the wreckage, the tribe kneels before them
as if they are gods. A few years later, armed treasure-hunters make their way
through the jungle and are suddenly surrounded by the tribe. One of the men is
beaten until Diana, the young woman now grown, puts a halt to it.
Interestingly, all the men of the tribe immediately get on their knees, but the
one woman (who was administering the beating) remains standing, like she knows
better. It’s a nice touch. The woman even questions Diana’s judgment when Diana
demands the man be set free. He is warned to never return. By the way, both
women are nearly naked. This is a Jess Franco film, after all.
The treasure-hunters go see Diana’s mother,
a rich woman in her sick bed, who seems surrounded only by people who want her
money. She is played by Lina Romay, who began acting in Jess Franco films a
decade earlier. Though she doesn’t have a large role in this film, her presence
is appreciated. The explorers offer to mount an expedition to find and return
her daughter if only she’ll finance it. She sees them as thieves right away
(the women in this film are much smarter than the men), but takes them up on
her offer, for she must cling to hope of seeing her daughter again. But can she
trust them? Even her relatives are only after the inheritance, and don’t want
Diana to return for that very reason. These characters are all greedy and
self-centered, making the world of the tribe all the more appealing. It’s an
intriguing effect, as the viewer can’t wait to get back to the jungle, where
the people might be cannibals but at least they’re honest. It’s the opposite of
how most films of this genre make the viewer feel. And into the jungle the team
goes, after a girl none of them actually wishes to save. With such questionable
motives, how could anything possibly go wrong? Well, it doesn’t help that one
of them shoots the first native they encounter. But remember, “Any man who thinks too much of his honor is
no good in bed.”
This film has a lot of the
stylistic elements that Jess Franco is known for – interesting use of sound, zooms,
moments of odd focus, extreme close-ups of people, and wide and sometimes gorgeous
shots showing the landscape. He always makes the most of his locations, as he does
here. The film is presented in English, and like all Jess Franco films that are
dubbed, the dubbing has much room for improvement. And it’s not just a matter
of things not being in sync. One character is referred to as Diana’s cousin at
first, though he is clearly much too old, and then later referred to as her
uncle, which makes more sense. However, like all dubbed Jess Franco films, the
poor dubbing becomes part of the film’s charm. There is also a moment when in a
wide shot you can see a note written in French in blue marker, and then in the
close-up, it’s suddenly in English in black marker. There is also a strange
moment when one character almost becomes Gollum from Lord Of The Rings when talking about his stones.
Diamonds Of Kilimandjaro is scheduled to be released on Blu-ray on
September 11, 2018 through MVD Visual. By the way, even though the Blu-ray case
indicates that the film is 83 minutes, the disc actually contains the 95-minute
version. The Blu-ray contains the film’s trailer (which is in French), as well
as the trailer for Jess Franco’s Golden
Temple Amazons.
No comments:
Post a Comment