Amazon starts out well with a cheesy clip from some old black and white film showing an intrepid "white hunter" escaping marauding cannibals, only to be beset by marauding crocodiles. It's funny and perfectly sets up Linda Hunt's nice narration about misconceptions surrounding our South American watery neighbor. Unfortunately that then gets us to the descendants of the Incas. You know something is amiss when the soundtrack Andean flutes and drums don't match anything remotely being played by the on screen performers (keep an eye on the drummers). There's something artificial going on almost right off the bat, and it's what ultimately keeps this sometimes riveting piece from being truly exemplary.

That then introduces us to one of the two main characters (and isn't it strange using the word character for a supposed documentary), an Incan shaman who is out to find new cures for his people. He secures some ice melt from a high mountain top, which he hopes to trade in the "big city" for some other miracle cures. Working from the other end of this spectrum is Dr. Plotkin, a researcher who has looked into medicinal uses for such things as curare, the "poison dart" additive than can easily kill, but which, when used in moderation, has had a number of life saving medicines made from it.

As these two radically different people slowly work toward a momentary meeting, we do get one amazing vista after another. There are, of course, numerous shots of the raging river itself, but we also get a number of interesting sidebars showing various lifeforms that live in and around the river, things like tapirs and pink dolphins. This is where Amazon really comes alive and fulfills its potential. I really had to wonder why the inert dramatic framing device was used at all--the documentary would have been simply spectacular had it been a no frills added tour of the waterway and its ecosystem.

Probably not helping is the fact that neither Plotkin nor the Indian actor hired to portray the shaman have an real performing experience. What that results in is acting! (you should be picturing Jon Lovitz saying that), a hyperbolic style that is completely unsuited to the form and substance of the documentary. If Plotkin is a little more nuanced (as hopefully he should be, playing himself, after all), the Indian actor is sadly pretty abysmal, making him laugh worthy at times (his reaction shot when he stumbles across a lost tribe is priceless).

If you can get past this night in amateursville, Amazon does offer an incredible bounty of sights and sounds, if not an overabundance of information about the huge river and its many denizens, human and otherwise. Like the river itself, Amazon is a sort of muddy affair, prone to meandering, but also offering a rare glimpse into sights very few humans have experienced.

The Blu-ray

Video:
As in the other MacGillivray Freeman BDs I've reviewed here recently (The Magic of Flight and Journey into Amazing Caves), Amazon is presented in a 1.78:1 OAR with a VC-1 encode. Results aren't quite as sharp as Caves but exhibit only a little of the edge enhancement and line shimmer that plagued Flight. This is an older film (1997), which may account for some of the slightly less sharp image quality. But colors are very good, well saturated (if a bit on the pink side at times), and line detail and crispness are overall very, very good.

Sound:
Amazon had by far the most impressive HD-MA 5.1 mix of any of the MFF BDs I've reviewed. Immersive qualities of the surround channels were really well used, mostly due to the omnipresent water sounds. You get everything from little gurgles when the river is relatively static, to overpowering LFE moments when you fly by a waterfall or other thundering water. Hunt's narration is very clear throughout, as are the first person voiceovers by Plotkin and the Indian actor. No other soundtracks or subtitles are available.

Extras:
This particular BD was a little light on the extras, offering only the MFF History that is on the other BDs, as well as trailers and a still nascent BD Live element, which really doesn't have anything up yet.

Final Thoughts:
Amazon is a curious beast indeed. As a "real" documentary, it fails spectacularly, due to the unimaginably bad decision to cast inexperienced people as performers. As a travelogue, however, it's stunning, with one incredibly lovely sight after another filling its 39 or so minutes. If you can get past the acting elements and simply focus on the beauty of what you're seeing, Amazon is Recommended.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet