Herrscher des Urwalds

Here is a large portion from a meritorious cinematic record, produced by Belgian documentarian Henri Storck, and shot over a two year period during 1958/9, of a generally unknown region within the Belgian Congo, one little inscribed through change, an anthropologically seasoned film benefiting from sponsorship given by King Leopold III of Belgium beneath the auspices of that nation's splendid International Scientific Foundation. Eminent zoologist Heinz Sielmann shares both directing and writing responsibilities with Henry Brandt, the pair capably assisted by a team of German cameramen who have compiled a good deal of unusual footage from within the large East African forested section of the erstwhile Belgian colony, subsequently to be designated as Zaire, along with fragments of Rwanda and Burundi. One of two attractively packaged and thoroughly interesting assemblages of nature-in-the-raw flavoured cultural documentation created by Sielmann (the other: VANISHING WILDERNESS), this work depicts complex interplay between indigenous peoples and wildlife, within what is now referred to as the Democratic Republic of Congo, an area concentered by an active volcanic range, jungle and savanna flanking it upon either side, the work featuring special diversion offered to viewers by means of staged folkways of local tribal forest residents. Scenes of unique behaviour on display from jungle fauna are interlaced with those of local natives who strive to establish mystical connections between animals and men; additionally, one of the strongest contributions representative of Sielmann's craft is a result of his 18 months of filming various gorilla family groups, a groundbreaking project that resulted in altering a widespread perception held of this simian from a merely dangerous beast into a very social and rather peaceable creature. The animal sphere also furnishes memorable episodes of such as an aardvark, nocturnally photographed while utilizing its spearlike two foot long tongue to seize and ingest large numbers of termite ants, and a hornbill that interns its mate inside of a tree, by means of mud daubing, for three months following birth of their young, an act of imprisonment symbolically applied within marital customs of regional tribes. An English language version of the film, entitled MASTERS OF THE CONGO JUNGLE (based upon a claim of local natives that "We are the lords of the forest") employs a tandem of stentorian voiced narrators, Orson Welles and William Warfield, providing more than enough basso tone to produce a dramatic accounting of the filmed activity, in spite of a written text by hack Joe Wills that is beleaguered with his regrettable tendency to compose phantasma from rather pedestrian activities of local denizens, although Welles adds welcome humour.

In spite of its rather lurid exploitation aspects (or probably because of them), the "Mondo" documentary is one of my favorite subgenres, mixing sex, violence and comedy together in a stew of documentary footage, some real and some concocted (though the filmmakers would die sooner than admit any of their footage was less than real, and captured live by the camera's unblinking eye).

This film splits the difference between a Mondo movie and a straight-ahead nature documentary. That is to say, its exploitation and use of ballyhoo are toned down considerably when compared to something like Mondo Cane, which this film preceded by three years.

Belgian filmmakers enter the jungles and plains of the Belgian Congo (then known as) to record some footage of the last tribes untouched by the modern world living out their days and nights, as well as wild animals in their native habitats. The tone is respectful most of the time, with minimal emphasis on the nudity, blood and gore (though some of it is here) seen in some of the most outrageous Mondo movies (Mondo Cane, Ecco, Africa Addio, Women of the World, Taboos of the World, Kwaheri, The Forbidden).

Could it be that this difference in tone results due to the fact that these filmmakers were Belgian, and most of the "Mondo" filmmakers were Italian? I will not make such a judgment.

Narration by Orson Welles (tag-teaming with another American narrator, William Warfield) adds another level of class and distinction to the presentation. There are a few scenes of jungle violence that are difficult to watch, but overall Welles does an excellent job amping up the drama and making this movie somewhat worthwhile for fans of nature documentary, of Orson Welles' always excellent voice over work, or even of Mondo films, even if this film doesn't quite reach the dizzying heights of insanity found in many Mondo productions.