Rolando Klein, a Chilean moviemaker routed through the UCLA film department, fabricates a Mayan myth about a mountain-top mystic who is enlisted by drought-plagued Indians to make an appeal to the rain god, Chac. The plot exposition is done ponderously day-by-day and step-by-step. All along, the National Geographic images capture the minutest details of the wild terrain: every leaf and every pebble is etched in fine-point. Indeed, the cultural chasm between the moviemakers and the copper-skinned natives of this remote region can be measured by the slick sophistication of the visuals (Los Angeles experimentalist Pat O'Neill is credited with "special opticals"). One sight in particular -- the miraculous walk across the white river rapids -- would be the envy of even Cecil B. DeMille. (1975) — Duncan Shepherd
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