NYFF 2020: ‘Tragic Jungle’ A Harrowing Tale Centered Around A Fascinating Legend

The 1920s: deep in a Mayan rain forest along the Rio Hondo (the border between Mexico and Belize, then British Honduras).

A young woman, Agnes (played nearly silently but very effectively by a magnetic Indira Andrewin), flees with her sister Florence (Shantai Obispo) from the British landowner the sister doesn’t want to marry (the latter played by a menacing Dale Carley). On the run, the sisters are gunned down—Florence drops, and Agnes apparently does as well, until we find her alive and captured by chicleros (the tree-climbing men who carve hatches in rubber trees to gather their white milk).

We spend Tragic Jungle (at the New York Film Festival until October 14th) following the chicleros with Agnes presumably captured and in tow, the landowner in harsh pursuit. While Agnes is ostensibly the victim of these men’s capture, the film escalates to implicitly ask the question ‘is she, though?’ They’re instructed to leave Agnes alone, but the heat of the jungle stokes the lust of the men—one by one they come for her, and one by one something mysterious keeps killing them in violent and confusing ways.

It’s important to note that Tragic Jungle is centered in the Yucatec myth about Xtabay, a female demon with beautiful black hair and a white dress that (according to legend) lures men to their death in the forest. Her origin, according to the legend (as translated by Wikipedia) stems from the story of two sisters, one kind but mistreated for her supposed promiscuity, the other cruel but honored by the community for her supposed celibacy. According to myth, both sisters perish and the latter prays to evil spirits to transform from a harsh-smelling flower (both sisters turned into flowers after death) into a pleasant one. The cruel woman’s prayer fails, turning her into the demon Xtabay who leads men to get lost in the jungles, where she has sex with and then destroys them.

In Tragic Jungle, we see soon see that Agnes, the chaste sister, becomes a quiet seductress after death, clearly involved in the growing wave of deaths of her captors. Early on Florence and Agnes are introduced in ways that resemble the moral alignment of the mythical sisters. Before her death, Florence says to Agnes:

“You could have married that English guy. You’re kind of white enough for his family, so you could have become a rich woman. If it was me, I would have let him feel in control a few times, and then I would have taken control of him. That’s how men are.”

Agnes responds with a blunt “I’m not like you.”

This blunt rejection of the use of sexuality stands in stark contrast to Agnes’ later seductions as she progressively embodies Xtabay. With a characterization that largely exhibits changes rather than verbalizes them, Andrewin gives a marvelous performances that evolves in energy and power the deeper into the jungle they go. It’s an excellent adaptation of the legend that pulses with energy, sexuality, fear, and power.

Overall the film is a strong, well directed effort that develops its supernatural aspects slowly as the chicleros descend deeper into the rain forest, and by the time it fully escalates the conclusion becomes inevitable. Director Yulene Olaizola (Fogo) does an excellent job capturing an increasing sense of sexuality, dread, and supernatural menace without it being telegraphed too soon or exhibited to bluntly. Indira Andrewin gives a rich performance that evolves well over the course of the film, and DP Sofía Oggioni’s (Los Silencios) adeptly captures a forest that is as vivid and beautiful as it can be dark and dreadful. A solid film, and a great exploration of Yucatán lore.

Tragic Jungle plays at the NYFF through October 14th.

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