Turistas
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| Turistas | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for Turistas |
|
| Directed by | John Stockwell |
| Produced by | Marc Butan John Stockwell Scott Steindorff Bo Zenga Todd Wagner Mark Cuban Elaine Dysinger Rick Dallago Kent Kubena Scott LaStaiti |
| Written by | Michael Arlen Ross |
| Starring | Josh Duhamel Melissa George Olivia Wilde Desmond Askew Beau Garrett Olga Diegues Max Brown Agles Steib |
| Music by | Paul Haslinger |
| Cinematography | Enrique Chediak Peter Zuccarini - underwater |
| Editing by | Jeff McEvoy |
| Distributed by | Fox Atomic |
| Release date(s) | December 1, 2006 |
| Running time | 89 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Official website | |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Turistas (translates to Tourists in English) is a 2006 vacation horror film, directed by John Stockwell.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Michael Arlen Ross wrote the screenplay about a group of young backpackers whose vacation turns sour when a bus accident leaves them marooned on a remote Brazilian beach that holds an ominous secret. The group consists of three Americans: brother and sister Alex and Bea, and Amy, Bea's best friend. Pru, an Australian tourist, joins the group as do British tourists Finn and Liam. The group meets a Brazilian teenager, Kiko, and befriends him. Kiko rescues the tourists from a group of furious Brazilians, and leads them to a safe-house deep in the jungle; however, it turns out that the safehouse is not as safe as they all had thought.
- Turistas came out on DVD March 27, 2007 and was released in a rated theatrical version, with a running time of 89 minutes. An unrated version of Turistas was also released the same day with a running time of 98 minutes. It was advertised as being "Too Gruesome For Theaters".
[edit] Repercussions
- In Brazil the movie has already started to create polemics and anger because of the clichés, stereotypes and unreal scenes that try to represent the dangers of the country[1][2].
- The American actor Josh Duhamel apologized to the Brazilian government and to the Brazilian people during The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC talk show, saying that it's not the intention of the movie to stop tourists from visiting Brazil.[3].
- In the website ParadiseBrazil a fake travel warning (simulating the warnings of the US Bureau of Consular Affairs) raised hundreds of indignant complaints from Brazilians.
- Some have criticized the film for riding on the coat-tails of a similar successful film, Hostel. The two films were shot around the same time, although Hostel was released first.
[edit] Plot
Alex and Bea are American siblings and very close. With them they've brought Bea's best friend, Amy. Alex is unsophisticated and inexperienced, but intelligent and strong. He is extremely suspicious and believes every rumor and urban legend he's heard about bad things happening to tourists in foreign lands. Amy and Bea, meanwhile, are younger and carefree. They've always dreamed of going to exotic places and are up for any adventure in this new world; they want to experience the land as the natives do. Bea wants to be a photographer, especially of foreign cultures (this gets her into trouble early in the film).
Bea and Amy talk Alex into taking a bus to Southern Brazil, even though he thinks its safer to fly. On the bus, Alex starts freaking out because the bus driver is driving recklessly and fast. Bea tells him to be quiet and relax, and that the man knows what he's doing. However, the driver soon loses control of the bus as he swerves to avoid hitting a group of young boys. The bus tips on its side, teetering over a cliff, and the passengers jump out just before it rolls miles down the cliff, ending up totally destroyed.
As the passengers are sitting by the side of the road, waiting for the next bus, they learn that it won't come for hours. Bea takes the opportunity to photograph a young child sitting on the road. The parent of the child spots her doing this and runs up, screaming at her in Portuguese. Bea backs off and tries to apologize, but the man will not be placated. An Australian tourist, Pru, steps in and calms the tensions - she speaks fluent Portuguese. Pru explains to the American trio that there are rumors of children being stolen by visiting Americans. The father was afraid that Bea was taking pictures of the child to give to a slave-trader.
The foursome encounters two British tourists, Finn and Liam. The pair is out looking to sleep with as many beautiful Brazilian women as they can. The group hears of a cabana bar at the nearby beach and heads over to check it out, rather than sit and wait for the bus. The bar turns out to be everything they'd hoped for, with exotic drinks and beautiful locals dancing and partying. The group makes friends with a fun native teenager named Kiko, as well as some other tourists at the bar. The party rages on well into the night. As the evening continues, the group starts to get heavier on their feet and increasingly disoriented; soon, everything goes black.
The group wakes up alone on a beach. Their passports, money, identification and all of their possessions are gone, and two of the other tourists they met at the bar have vanished entirely. The group, terrified and in shock, finds their way into the town. Alex spots his stolen cap on the head of a local child, and demands to know where their stuff was taken. A fight breaks out, and Kiko appears and rescues the group.
Kiko tells them that there is a safehouse in the jungle where they will be protected. He offers to lead them through the jungle to the safehouse. The group agrees, looking for a place to hide out from the strangely hostile locals.
Kiko leads them deep into the jungle. They see amazing things like underground natural caverns and towering forests. Alex is still suspicious, but since he has no other options, gives in. Kiko injures himself diving off of one of the large rock clifs into the lake. Finally, they reach the safe-house, where they frantically look for something to help Kiko before he dies. Finn finds a staple gun and uses it to close the deep gash on Kiko's head (This is pivotal later on).
After rooting through the house for a few hours, a helicopter arrives and Kiko's 'uncle', Dr. Zamora, is one of the people that come out from the chopper. One of the women with the group from the helicopter tells Alex to run, to just run and get far away from that house. It is too late as every one in the group has been subdued.
Amy is now shown nude on a cheap surgeon's table being given tranquilizers. Dr. Zamora is marking Amy's abdomen as to where she's going to be cut open. Dr. Zamora begins performing 'surgery' on Amy, the whole time talking about how the people of his country have been treated and that he is taking back what is 'owed' to him. He states that he has 12 hours to remove and get all of the group's kidneys and livers into the helicopter where they will be sold on the black market to rich white people who need them to live. The whole time Finn is tied up on a table watching what's happening to Amy and listening to what Dr. Zamora is saying. Dr. Zamora removes Amy's kidneys and liver while she is still alive and also removes her intestine and throws it in the garbage. After her liver is removed, she slowly passes out and dies.
The rest of the group are bound and locked in dog pens outside of the house. Alex had taken a pocket knife from inside the house and he retrieved it from his pocket and told Pru to get it and cut herself free, which she does, and then Alex proceeds to do the same and then frees Bea. One of the guards comes to check on Pru and she attacks him after he opened the cage, Kiko, who had previously left, comes back and helps take out the guard, whom Alex stabs several times in the neck with the pocket knife. Kiko retrieves the keys from the guard and frees Alex and Bea, but the key breaks off in the lock when he tries to free Liam. Alex and Kiko attempt to dig out underneath the cage before they are caught.
Inside Finn is given the tranqulizers to subdue him for surgery. Dr. Zamora realizes something is wrong and goes out to stop the others from escaping. Liam goes back to save Finn and as they are trying to run for it, both Finn and Liam are killed by Dr. Zamora's accomplices. Bea and Pru have already run into the jungle to escape and are being pursued by Zamora's hench-men. Alex and Kiko manage to get away and head off into the jungle to find the girls. Zamora and his accomplices follow. Night turns to day and we see Bea washing her hands by the river. She hears footsteps and hides behind a rock armed with a smaller rock. A foot lands next to her, which she smashes with said small rock, and it turns out to be Alex. They embrace and Kiko says they have to go, so they return to the underwater caves, only to find Pru hiding there already. They continue swimming and come out in the large chamber from before, where Kiko and Alex have a tussle over Kiko getting them into this whole mess. The girls separate them just in time for Zamora and the a henchman to arrive at an opening in the roof.
They fire into the group, killing Kiko and hitting Alex in the hand. The henchman dives into the water after them. An underwater swimming chase ensues, with Bea separated from the group and the henchman after her. After some chasing, the two surface in an air bubble and fight. Bea bites the henchman's hand and then stabs him in the neck several times with his own arrow. She is then found by Alex and Pru and they surface in a dry part of the cave, where Zamora and the long haired guy are searching. Alex sneaks up behind Zamora and hits him in the head with a large rock several times before the girls stop him and long haired guy approaches. Zamora, still alive tells him to "kill the gringos" while Pru begs for their lives. Zamora says many condescending things and long haired guy shoots him in the head and leads the group out of the caves. They walk along the river until they come upon children, followed by a man who takes them in, treats Alex's hand, and has his wife make them food. They then appear at an airport to board a plane and hear a couple arguing over taking a bus or a plane; Alex tells them to take a plane. Awkward silence ensues between Alex and Bea on the plane.
[edit] Cast
- Josh Duhamel as Alex Trubituan
- Melissa George as Pru Stagler
- Olivia Wilde as Bea Trubituan
- Desmond Askew as Finn Davies
- Beau Garrett as Amy Harrington
- Olga Diegues as Annika
- Max Brown as Liam Kuller
- Agles Steib as Kiko
- Miguel Lunardi as Dr. Zamora
- Jorge Só as Bus Driver
- Cristiani Aparecida as Native Beauty
- Lucy Ramos as Arolea
- Jared Banaszak as Pido
- Andréa Leal as Camila
- Diego Santiago as Jacaré
- Marcão as Ranan
- Miguelito Acosta as Jamoru
[edit] References
- ^ The blog of Marcelo Tas, a Brazilian journalist and TV host (in Portuguese)
- ^ Article published on O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper (in Portuguese)
- ^ Article published on O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper (in Portuguese)
