Canopy (2013)

When I read about CANOPY I thought it sounded decent: Australian pilot, shot down in the fetid jungles of Singapore and trying to avoid Japanese squads on the hunt for prey. The sweaty, claustrophobic confines of the jungle sounded very AGUIRRE-esque to me and if the film was slow, then so what? Herzog's films are slow and yet they're also exceptionally crafted and beautiful to boot which is why they're my favourites.Sadly, CANOPY turns out to be an absolutely awful picture and one of the most boring films I've ever seen. I can forgive films for being cheesy or silly but to be dull is the cardinal sin I can't ignore. NOTHING happens in this film from beginning to end: there's no dialogue, no incident, no drama, nothing. Just characters wandering around or sitting looking at trees.Now, the film could still have been saved had it had exceptional cinematography to bring the life the sights and sounds of the jungle. It doesn't. It looks like this was made by amateurs, shooting in a single location and pointing the camera in different directions each time in order to get a sense of the jungle expanse. What we get is a film which relies on a sound effects team to insert noises of planes, bombing, and fighting without ever showing anything. It's so cheap it's a joke.

I read the reviews before watching this movie so I was already a bit prepared of what I was going to see. I read there was not much dialogs and to me for a good movie sometimes it's not even necessary. But in this movie there is almost no conversation at all. The only line the main character had to remember is his name. He said it twice and that's it. I don't say Khan Chittenden failed as an actor because his expressions of fear and anguish are good but since there are two actors I thought a little bit of conversation would have done good to the movie. So the movie will just be liked by people that like jungle scenery. Nature is the only thing that keeps the movie interesting but then I wonder if I was not better going on a walk in the forest instead of watching this movie.

Before I watch a movie I look at the plot summary and read a few reviews. There are a some very negative reviews of this movie here on IMDb and I am left wondering why these people watched the movie? A few seemed to think there should be more fighting and sophisticated effects. Some seemed to think there should have been a stronger story line. This is not that kind of movie folks. This is the kind of movie that requires the viewer to engage and think about the human condition. If you want banging and smashing action or a fairy tale story don't bother watching this movie. If your attention span is just long enough to manage handfuls of popcorn don't watch this movie. If you want to be engaged in a thought process then you are in for a treat. I was reminded very much of the classic war movie "Hell in the Pacific" as I watched. Here the two characters are comrades rather than adversaries but there are similarities in the lack of a common language and the reliance on strong visual images. I don't want to give away the plot or ending but without spoiling anything I can say the penultimate scene makes a very strong statement about how we remember the victims of a war. In summary people should watch movies according to their tastes. If you want big budget Hollywood action and a story don't bother with this movie, and moreover don't half watch it without concentrating and write a lambasting review. If you want something more existential and thought provoking, I recommend this movie to you.

I feel the movie missed its target of giving the viewer empathy of the Main character and did not give due to credit to those that endured this fate. Very little information of the 'fight' with the environment; I would have thought a pilot in this situation would have faced more than some splashing through puddles and a few bull ants e.g.Fatigue, hunger, dysentery from only water source available. Little effort to show the language barriers as main characters made few if any attempts to communicate with each other. Obvious costume and editing errors; disappointing to an observant viewer. Very long draw out periods of repetitive views of foliage canopy.