"Telluride Film Festival has become well known for programming Oscar-contending films. While most eyes are drawn to potential "Best Picture" titles, Telluride consistently curates a strong, socially relevant selection of documentaries. This year, there was a slight pivot from last year's focus on political, pre-election films, and the diversity in themes explored is tied together by the elegant execution from each filmmaking team."
"Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, the director-duo best known for their exhilarating, athletic-leaning storytelling, collaborate with co-director and producer Juan Camilo Cruz to document and recount their most layered and familial story yet with "Lost in the Jungle". The National Geographic film takes on a miraculous search and rescue mission through the Colombian jungle, whose elements include Indigenous traditions, military procedure, and a mother and her children who left for Bogota in search of a better life."
"The strongest thread juxtaposes the military's tactics from the longstanding traditions of the Indigenous peoples. We follow two of the troops who carried hand-held cameras, videoing their treks, their interviews peppered together in a way that creates dialogue and brief moments of conflicting comedy. The film's tone is quite bleak until the military and Indigenous groups come together to combine efforts; we finally witness the story's first win and pray alongside them for continued success in their search."
"The film's second thread investigates the mother, Magdalena, after she's had enough of her abusive relationship. One of her dear friends paints the scene of the multiple public instances where Manny, her husband, put his hands on her. She fled their small town with her four children; halfway through their flight, the plane went down in the middle of the jungle."
Telluride Film Festival highlights Oscar-contending films while consistently programming socially relevant documentaries, showing a slight shift from political, pre-election topics to a broader thematic range united by elegant filmmaking. 'Lost in the Jungle' follows a three-pronged narrative: a miraculous Colombian jungle search-and-rescue, the Indigenous traditions and military tactics that intersect during the mission, and the personal story of Magdalena, a mother fleeing abuse whose plane crashes with her children. The film interweaves military footage, handheld troop cameras, and intimate interviews, balancing bleak tone with moments of conflicting comedy and a hopeful collaborative resolution.
Read at Roger Ebert
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