The Serpent and the Rainbow
- R
- Year:
- 1988
- 98 min
- 755 Views
Allez avec bon Dieu.
Christophe!
Christophe!
Christophe!
Christophe!
Field notes. Dr Dennis Alan,
Rio Negro Botanical Expedition...
... August 15, 1985.
At the clearing of the shaman An Hango...
... regarded as the most powerful
spiritual man in the Amazon.
There's something strange in the air
today. Even my pilot's nervous.
If I were superstitious, I'd say
that something was closing in on me.
The shaman senses it too. He decides,
in his own off-the-wall way...
... to show me what it is.
Tell him I'm very appreciative.
Harvard thanks him.
His potions will make a good medicine
that will be helpful for many people.
Now he wants you to drink it. He says
he has something he wants you to see.
You know what you'll see
if you drink that sh*t? Stars, amigo.
Let's get outta here.
Like I said, for the road.
It's good. It's very good.
Thank you.
Agh!
No! No!
Stop!
Hello?
Julio!
Hey. I thought
I owe you one, pal.
Something much more evil and powerful
than the shaman or his men...
... has killed my pilot.
I know this as clearly as I feel
the darkness and cold closing in on me.
Hey.
Hey! Hey!
Agh!
I'm only home for a week when I get a
call from my old professor and friend...
... Earl Schoonbacher.
He's a consultant for
a pharmaceutical company...
... and says he has
an interesting job offer.
Ah, Dennis. This is Dr Cassedy,
the head of Boston Biocorp.
- How do you do, sir?
- Hi, how do you do?
Boy, it's a pleasure.
I'm impressed. 200 miles
through the Amazon, on foot, alone?
Not alone. They showed him
his animal spirit, his totem.
back to us, safe and sound.
Well, we here at Boston Biocorp...
...we deal in science
and medicine, not magic.
So whether you came by Jaguar
or Mercedes-Benz, who cares?
What I care about is you came back
with plants and native medicines...
...that no one has been able to collect.
What do you know about zombification?
- Pardon me?
- Zombification?
The process of making zombies.
The living dead.
Just what I've seen on the Late Show.
This is the death certificate
of Christophe Durand...
...and the doctor's report.
Mr. Durand displayed negative pulse,
no heartbeat, no respirations...
...no pupil dilation, no brain waves,
no response to pain, and he was buried.
He was put into a coffin... and buried.
The date on that certificate
is seven years ago.
This photograph was taken one week
ago at a clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
That man is Christophe Durand.
The same, and very much alive.
Maybe Durand had a twin.
No.
Hospital error. You know,
right name, wrong corpse.
No.
No, we had it verified by Dr Duchamp -
the one who sent us the photographs.
If you don't like "zombie",
choose another word.
But the fact is that somebody
brought him back from the grave.
And I wanna know... how they did it.
- You really believe this?
- The Haitians surely do.
A drug.
It has to be a drug then, right?
Anesthesia. That's what I was thinking.
A new anesthetic that could
revolutionize medicine.
Now, what if this zombie drug
could be discovered?
are lost on the operating table...
...not because of surgery,
but because of anesthetic shock.
saved in the US alone, Doctor.
And more worldwide,
if properly marketed.
It could be
more complicated than drugs.
It could be the proof,
perhaps, of the soul.
Come on, Schoonie,
where is the location of the soul?
Under the hood? Next to the battery?
No, the soul begins
and ends with the brain.
This drug, this is something totally new.
We don't have anything that can put
somebody in, then back out, of death.
And all we gotta do is... go and get it.
This is one of
the poorest countries in the world.
It has revolution in the air. It's got
a ruthless dictator in the palace.
So I had expected
a certain sense of oppression.
But I hadn't expected that
the dark presence from the Amazon...
... would instantly come over me here...
... as real as a cold hand
falling on my shoulder.
And I also didn't expect
Dr Duchamp to look like...
... Dr Duchamp did.
- Dr Duchamp?
- Bonjour.
- Bonjour, je m'appelle...
- Dennis Alan, I know.
Yes, I guess I am
an easy face in this crowd.
Oh, I would have known you even in...
- Excuse me?
- It would be better if we talk inside.
Those were the Tontons Macoutes.
They know you are here, of course.
Are you sure handcuffs
are the best idea here?
A week's supply of Thorazine.
Handcuffs are the only thing Duvalier
makes sure Haiti has enough of.
This is Margrite.
- I was expecting...
- After an illness of three days...
...Margrite died and was buried
in a village ceremony.
No death certificate,
but we have witnesses.
That was 15 years ago.
Last August, she was found
wandering in the marketplace.
Her brother identified her
by a birthmark.
A classic zombie.
Bonjour, Margrite.
Est-ce que tu te rappelles
ce qui t'est arriv?
Well, she sure can't tell us anything.
I understand Christophe Durand,
the man whose death certificate I saw...
...he can speak, right?
- Yes.
He even speaks English. Christophe is
unique. Much of his memory is intact.
I'd like to see him right away.
A warning,
that's what I felt in those eyes.
I didn't know of what,
but it chilled me to the bone.
Marielle took me to see a man who was
very powerful in politics and in voodoo.
He's a full voodoo priest, but he also
runs a nightclub for tourists.
In fact, Lucien Celine does a bit of
everything, except give out information.
You've come on a good night, Monsieur.
Tonight the spirits are happy.
We asked about Christophe Durand.
Lucien, why are you being so difficult?
You have people all over the island.
Someone must have seen
Christophe by now.
Perhaps. But what people see and
what they say are very different matters.
Haiti is full of contradictions, Dr Alan.
These dancers, for instance,
they don't bleed and they don't burn.
Tonight we are calling down Erzulie,
the goddess of love.
- You will dance tonight?
- No, Lucien, I will not.
- You will.
- No.
- You all right?
- You have business to discuss.
If he won't help, we'll go
to Christophe's village tomorrow.
She'll be fine. She'll be fine.
Agh!
Yes, he is the one to watch.
Captain Peytraud. He plays at
being a bokor, a black magician.
He is beneath contempt.
He is the Chief of the Tontons Macoutes,
Duvalier's secret police.
You have seen him before perhaps, hm?
- Yeah, someplace.
- Be careful, my friend.
In Haiti, there are secrets
we keep even from ourselves.
Hey.
- Marielle.
- Yes, favorite of Erzulie.
For Marielle, possession
is as natural as breathing.
Argh!
Watch it.
Are you all right?
Marielle never mentioned
what had happened the night before.
But from what I knew of possession,
she probably didn't even remember it.
Maybe it was just as well.
We asked in Christophe's village, but not
even the voodoo priestess would help.
I told you, he is dead.
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