Saturday 21 November

BLOGS

blogCategory
Previous
Back to blog
Next

Amazon with Bruce Parry

Amazon with Bruce Parry
  • Posted at 12:39pm
  • 19 September 2008
  • by AlisonGraham-RT
  • 4 comments

Women love Bruce Parry. And I don't mean just those who gush "Bruce is HOT!!!!" on websites. I mean the tribeswomen who always greet him with unalloyed joy. In the first episode of Amazon with Bruce Parry (15 September, BBC2), he stayed with a sweet, accommodating family in Peru's High Andes. The matriarch beamed at his arrival, presented him with charming hand-knitted accessories, then sobbed when he left. The women featured in Parry's previous series, Tribe, always cried at his departure, too, and who could blame them? He was genial, respectful and he loved helping around the house.

But, apart from the weeping women, Amazon was a very different programme from Tribe. This was real Heart of Darkness stuff, as Parry headed into hostile, little-explored territory mainly without the protection of a host community. Apart from the occasional bit that made Amazon look like a documentary about adventure holidays (the sequence where he went rafting and any shot of Bruce looking cool in sunglasses), it was a gripping portrait of an area torn by conflict and greed.

Parry inched into the stomping ground of the brutal Maoist guerrilla group, Shining Path, who'd muscled into the area's most lucrative cash crop, coca - a fundament in the production of cocaine. This was a dangerous place with factions fighting for control of coca-producing land. Parry visited an illegal bossa, a rustic field lab deep in the forest, where men did the donkey-work in the early stages of cocaine production, soaking the coca leaves in a terrifying concoction of chemicals that included kerosene and chlorine.

Despite the omnipresent danger from drug gangs, Amazon's most frightening moments came out of the blue: director Matt Brandon became seriously ill hundreds of miles from medical aid. Luckily, a police helicopter agreed to airlift him to a hospital, where Brandon was treated for a brain abscess and made a full recovery.

During a harrowing night spent waiting for help, Parry gently reassured his stricken friend, who could neither speak nor move, that all would be well. Parry has such a capable presence, I believed him.

Link to this post
Post a comment | 4 comments

Comments

  • Posted on 02 January 2009
  • at 6:44pm
  • by HARYO

Bruce.... what are you doing now? When will you come again to Central Borneo (Sebangah) and sleeping on the hammock like we did in swampforce 15 years ago. good luck Bruce.....

  • Posted on 23 September 2008
  • at 9:25pm
  • by Froggy

I have just watched episode 2 of Amazon on iplayer, I could happily watch all Bruces' shows back to back, despite this one being mostly about vomitting. I have to confess to feeling a little queasy myself afterwards. I look forward to the next installment of Amazon, especially as, if the oil companies get their way, it won't be around in it's current magnificance for very much longer. My heart goes out to the families who have survived there for generations, overcoming many hardships, until the hardest one of all, "civilised man".

  • Posted on 23 September 2008
  • at 8:38pm
  • by Peter

Fantastic programme, absolutely love it, well done Bruce Parry and team.

  • Posted on 23 September 2008
  • at 1:34pm
  • by samskimilla

Best programme on the BBC - well done.

Post a comment

Do you have something to say about this post? Share your thoughts…

Post a comment

(first or nickname only)

Please do not include any personal or personally identifiable information about yourself or others (including email addresses). All information you submit about yourself or others can be viewed by others.

Thank you for your comment

Thank you for your comments. All comments will be looked at by a moderator, however, due to the numbers of comments we receive, we can't promise that all will be posted on the site.

Post another comment

More


Advertisement