The Serpent and the Rainbow

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

you'd taken off without me.

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.

The jaguar guided him

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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