Eli Roth’s comeback behind the camera was severely delayed due to production company difficulties, but now we’ll be living in the Fall of Roth where you’ll not only be able to see one, but two films directed by the man. However, if you’re looking for the Roth film to pour your money into, The Green Inferno is not the one you should be holding out for.
The movie begins with Justine (Lorenza Izzo), a young college freshman who is in the midst of discovering where she belongs, but things start to become a little clear when she notices an activist group outside her dorm window. Even though her roommate has some choice words about the far-too-skinny food protestors, Justine is drawn to them though, especially the cute boy activist Alejandro (Ariel Levy). So Justine packs her bags and plans on a philanthropic adventure to Peru, where she plans on saving a section of the rain forest that’s inhabited by an ancient, local tribe. This all would have been a very sweet idea if those natives also didn’t happen to be cannibals.
Roth was inspired by the exploitive cannibal films of his youth, and he makes it clear throughout the film from specific nods to Cannibal Holocaust to the list of all the cannibal smut films he rented from the local video store in his youth. It’s oddly sweet that Roth attempted an ode to his favorite genre, but unfortunately it falls flat because Roth’s vision is just a repurposed version of Hostel. A college student gallivants off to a third-ish world country and then the country bites back. Trade the psychotic rich men for cannibals, and you have your classic Roth torture porn.
Roth longs to create exciting movies in the style of the B-horror movies he grew up on, but his lack one important element those thrive on: fun. Roth takes his filmmaking seriously, and he creates selfish, dumb, and brutally mean spirited characters just so he can axe them. There’s no camp to counteract his schlock, so what you’re stuck with is a horror movie that’s genuinely mean to both its characters and, in the case of The Green Inferno, other cultures. He succeeds at telling stories that are ripe with the fear of the unknown, and anticipates that his audience will be smart enough to catch on to his nods to horror history. Except, his nods aren’t that smart and they don’t elevate the genre. With The Green Inferno Roth shows us that he’s a better producer than he is a filmmaker. He can sell a film, but he can’t procure an idea and develop it for the screen.
So when Justine is screaming for help as the cannibals try to mutilate her genitals, it’s hard to watch. She’s the protagonist we like enough, yet Roth does his best to tear her down and never let her back up. While maybe someone could find a little bit of enjoyment when the jerk kids meet their impending doom, there’s absolutely none when Justine is tortured. She’s punished for trying to be a better person, and perhaps what Roth is trying to say here is that American white females shouldn’t try to make a difference in other countries. Sure, there are plenty of cases where white elitism has wrecked other countries, but not many can say that attempting to protect the home of an ancient culture is harmful. The Green Inferno chastises a woman for trying to prevent deforestation, for believing in a cause outside what’s put in her Starbucks latte. Furthermore, it affirms the fear of the other, a Roth-ism that’s so old and trite it’s tiresome. The Green Inferno is a culturally insensitive piece of work that doesn’t manage to be effective. Limbs are lobbed off and tongues are cut out, but throughout this ramped up gory display one thought keeps coming to mind: why do we still root for Roth when he’s only rooting for himself?
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