Went to see “Keep the River on Your Right” last night at the Orpheum with Mike and Debbie. Mike is a documentary fanatic – almost all of his favorite movies are documentaries. So he suggested this one, about an artist/anthropologist who spent the 50s-70s living with primitive tribes in Peru and New Guinea; he returns to those places in his late 70s with a film crew. Not exactly my speed, and I’d avoided it up to this point.
But I was pleasantly surprised. This guy, Tobias Schneebaum, spent his life living it exactly as he wanted. He is infamous for living fully within these primitive societies, taking part in their homosexual practices and in one case, their cannibalism. (The best moment of the film, for me, is when the female co-host of the Mike Douglas show is disgusted by the thought of cannibalism, then two seconds later says breathlessly, “How did it taste?”) He often points out, gently, that the actions of these “primitive” people are no stranger than those in “modern” societies. He is photographed at the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, saying, “I’ve done everything in my life I wanted to do. If I die today, that’ll be all right.” How many people will get to that age and be able to say the same? Recommended.