Latitude Zero (1961)

★★★★★ · Trying to mediate a vandal · dkjack · 2010-05-14

The sanctimonious rantings of politically correct prigs notwithstanding, this is a marvelous film tour of the Amazon. The missionaries are not much different from Peace Corps volunteers in their actual work. Anyone wishing to teach someone else does so from a certain advantage, in that they have knowledge or skill to impart that can benefit others without that knowledge or skill. The notion that civilization has more to contribute to primitive cultures than vice-versa should be a no-brainer, but some fall short even of that minimum threshold, with their mindless cultural relativism.

★ · Warning: "White Man's Burden" Alert · Zplomb · 2010-03-24

This film is I suppose a recruiting film for Catholic missionaries. In it you will find several back-handed comment and outright put-downs of the cultures of people along the Amazon River in Brazil. Movies like these are quite dangerous, really. You'll hear the constant references to "civilization." And how the goal is not to understand and respect and learn from these cultures as much as to spread western ideals.The date on the film is 1961, so I didn't really expect any of today's more enlightened views towards non-Occidental cultures. Still, make sure you're in the mood to make fun of such…