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Review (Contains Spoilers)

Throughout the course of the sixties and seventies Mondo films proved to be a lucrative avenue of exploitation cinema. While the spiritual roots of Mondo cinema can debatably be traced back as far as the silent film era it was the surprising international box office success of infamous Italian filmmaking dup Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi’s genre prototype Mondo Cane (1962) that proved the commercial spate for a rapid fire succession of lurid documentary features mainly emanating from Italy. Indeed the opportunistic journalist cum filmmaker suddenly found himself in demand as exploitation was swamped with these films which tended to use the travelogue documentary format as a smokescreen for assailing their viewer with shocking footage (sometimes real, sometimes not) of violence, sexuality and taboo behaviour that would not have been permissible had it been presented within the context of a regular feature film. The whole Mondo bandwagon had run aground by the early seventies until another Italian filmmaking duo Antonio Climati and Mario Morra rejuvenated the Mondo trend with their highly grim Savage Man… Savage Beast (1975) which proved an international box office success and shifted the focus of the revived Mondo genre towards increasingly vile genuine and staged depictions of atrocity, suffering and death.

While Mondo cinema thrived throughout the sixties and seventies Florida born entrepreneur Arthur Davis was busy carving himself a lucrative niche in the world of film distribution. After cutting his teeth in the sixties as an exhibitor and publicist Davis moved on to establishing his own distribution business which specialised in shipping feature films to the lucrative Far Eastern market. Not content with amassing his fortune in distribution Davis soon moved on to producing and directing his own films with markedly less successful results. The success of Mondo Cane and other films of its shockumentary ilk had been noted by Davis who in the belief that these sort of films were easy to make and generally profitable poured approximately $750,000 of his own money into directing and producing his own Mondo feature Brutes and Savages based around the dubious African and South American “adventures” of himself and his crew. Ever the showman Davis would embark on a typically eccentric attempt to promote Brutes and Savages billing the film as being shot in “Fantastic Brute Sound” and orchestrating a lurid promotional campaign which prominently featured the illustrated poster image of a hapless man trapped in the jaws of a gigantic crocodile. In addition Davis also had a tie in paperback novel published which featured rather fanciful accounts of his and his parties many escapades and hazardous close encounters during the making of the film. Unfortunately for Davis Brutes and Savages would achieve little success in comparison to other Mondo features despite his aforementioned promotional efforts and would not even be released theatrically in the USA until it finally crept out minimally on limited release in 1982. Following the films comparative failure coupled with several other false downs, Davis would promptly make a swift and largely unlamented exit from the film industry, crawling back to his native Florida with his tail between his legs as he embarked on a new career dealing in real estate. It should however be noted that Davis did serve as executive producer and financial backer for director Masayoshi Nemoto's Japanese documentary feature Budo: The Art Of Killing (1979) - a serious and insightful documentary focusing on the various martial arts which while little seen is highly revered amongst practitioners.

Brutes and Savages takes the tried and tested form of an exotic travelogue following director Arthur Davis and his crew as they venture into the African territory of Sudan and later onto South America where they trek through both Bolivia and Peru. The flimsy, irrelevant purpose of this escapade is to prove that the same brute, violent instinct exhibited by animals also exists within man. In order to prove this point Davis offers us a cross continental hodgepodge of nonsensical real and staged footage allegedly intended to depict the strange, outlandish native customs, violent encounters with the predators of the animal kingdom and ultimately examples of mans own brutality and aggression towards both animals and each other.

Viewed in its fully uncut incarnation on DVD Brutes and Savages is not only one of the most idiosyncratic of all Mondo features but also arguably the most dreadful despite its questionable endorsement by the (almost certainly fictional) “Institute of Primitive Arts and Cultures”. Indeed Brutes and Savages is an almost indescribably shoddy affair filled with endless beautifully shot yet completely banal travelogue footage punctuated with a bizarre assortment of laughably fabricated “shock” highlights and sadly not so fabricated abuse, killing and mutilation of live animals. In an unusual move Davis actually owns up to the fact that much of the film is staged from the outset, beginning with the ambiguous disclaimer declaring that “All scenes whether actual or simulated represent actual truth”. The films narration duties are handled by famed British acting veteran Richard Johnson who by this point in his career was becoming something of a semi-regular in Italian horror and exploitation films. The imposing solemnity of Johnson’s narration makes for a rather amusing contrast with the imbecilic, inept and alternately tedious and bizarre events unfolding onscreen. Whether Johnson has ever seen the film or not I do not know but I can only imagine what thoughts must have been going through his mind when he read the script.

Brutes and Savages claims to begin in Africa but the footage aired is so patently phoney that its fair to question whether Arthur Davis and his cronies ever actually set foot on the Dark Continent at all. In vaguely exotic looking jungle locations a native tribe – who may or may not be played by paid black extras – sport ridiculously bright face paint and participate in some rather suspect tribal rites and ceremonies. In order to gain the hand in marriage of the chiefs daughter one plucky young savage is forced into a battle to the death with several of the chief’s prized warriors. The laughable staged combat that ensues resembles something out of a bad kung fu film and almost instantly negates the credibility of everything else Davis has to show us. In a typical exploitative touch the camera lingers at length over scenes of tribeswomen slathering oil all over each other predictably with a particular focus on the breast region. Our narrator Johnson speaks of these ladies indulging in wild sexual orgies with the tribe’s men folk which are not shown.

The African footage concludes with one of the most lame and badly executed scenes in the entire history of exploitation cinema. In a bizarre manhood ceremony the tribes young males upon attaining a certain age have to wade across a crocodile infested river. If they manage this seemingly suicidal feat they emerge on the other side of the river as a man, however if they fail they only become dinner. The first young man successfully crosses the river, with obvious inserted stock footage of crocodiles slithering into the water. However, the second youth is not so fortunate and falls victim to the worst staged crocodile attack in the history of cinema! Footage of the native screaming and flailing in the murky waters of the river is crudely intercut with shots obviously filmed in the bright, clear water of a swimming pool with a stupid looking rubber crocodile and equally rubbery severed body parts bobbing to the surface while the water becomes stained with blood. The sorry spectacle concludes with a lingering close up shot of the fake croc drifting lifelessly in the water with a rather unconvincing severed head in its jaws. This entire sequence is so unfathomably pathetic in every aspect of its execution that far from being shocking is actually extremely funny especially when Johnson gravely intones that “we shuddered a little at what he had witnessed”. It certainly beggars belief that any filmmaker or producer would attempt to pass this feeble sequence off as real let alone feature it as the prominent focal point of his films marketing campaign.

At this point the action switches from Davis’ fabricated simulation of Africa to footage genuinely shot by Davis and his crew in the South American nations of Bolivia and Peru. Within minutes the hapless viewer will no doubt praying for the rubber crocodile to come back as at this point Brutes and Savages drifts into a long passage of abject boredom. Firstly we are taken through a long and disinteresting trek through a native shanty town which Davis and company sensitively dub “Death Village”. However, despite the narration informing us about the awful conditions and sky high mortality rate the denizens of “Death Village” actually seem a fairly happy folk evidently pleased and excited to have a rag-tag tag band of white exploitation filmmakers invading their living space. In another similar sequence shown sometime later that should be interesting but instead just winds up leaden and dull Davis shows us the depressing spectacle of Bolivian natives picking cocoa leaves for a pittance. These leaves will later be used to manufacture cocaine generating a fortune for the unscrupulous drug barons and leaving an endless trail of broken leaves. By rights this sequence should have a certain poignancy or pathos but in the feckless hands of a two bit carny like Davis it is sleep inducing.

The South American footage that makes up the bulk of Brutes and Savages only awakens from its slumber when Davis returns to staging ridiculous and unintentionally funny recreations of tribal rites and ceremonies. In supposedly “secretly filmed” footage that amusingly is perfectly composed and therefore clearly shot in plain view we witness an elaborate wedding ceremony in which a gawky, beaming young man weds a rather attractive native girl after winning the favour of the girls father. On the beach the scene momentarily takes on a darker tone as we witness the very real and revolting ritualistic butchery of a live turtle. The comedy soon kicks back in however as we are taken inside the newlyweds hut where the happy couple participate in one of the most fumbling and awkward soft-core couplings you’re ever likely to witness. Whatever things these two young lovebirds have in common a sexual chemistry is obviously not one of them.

In the films only real moment of genuine shock we are subjected to lengthy stock footage of brain surgery. Unlike much of what has gone before this sequence is completely genuine and certainly not for the squeamish as we are graphically shown the skull being sliced away allowing the surgeon to manipulate the brain matter. However, the shock effect of the sequence is significantly lessened by the typically ridiculous, phoney context in whi9ch it is randomly plonked into the film. It is clear that this is the only worthwhile genuine footage Davis had at his disposal and in his desperation to justify its inclusion he fabricates a silly make believe scenario to integrate it into the film. We are shown a two rival gangs of native shepherds who for whatever reason are participating in a stone throwing duel which Davis and company are conveniently on hand to film. After one of the shepherds is unconvincingly bashed on the head by one of the flying rocks Davis reassures the injured mans concerned comrades that he happens to know a famous brain surgeon who will be more than happy to operate on their fallen friend cue the stock brain surgery footage.

Following this rather gruesome spectacle tedium momentarily sets back in as Davis leads us on a stroll around the world’s only museum of erotic pottery. This sequence is every bit as thrilling as it sounds save for some dodgy yet rather comical shots of Davis rather over enthusiastically pointing out the rude bits on the various pieces of pottery. Thankfully Brutes and Savages at least livens up with its hilarious finale – a howlingly tasteless sequence in which a swarthy looking group of native farmers drop their trousers to simulate sexual intercourse with their llamas! Quite what significance this particular “ceremony” is supposed to have is a mystery and the viewer is left to stare on in vaguely shocked disbelief as the film concludes on shots of the farmer’s bare bottoms enthusiastically pummelling away at the rears of the rather nonplussed looking llamas. With this sequence Brutes and Savages finally reaches its long awaited close.

While much of the film is alternately either abjectly boring or amusing in its sheer stupidity there is however a far darker and more cynically exploitative side to Brutes and Savages as regards to the numerous, genuine scenes of hapless live animals being mutilated, torn apart and killed. It seems as if whenever the proceedings threaten to become too boring Davis seeks to liven affairs up by inserting pointless stock footage of animals fighting and larger more powerful predators devouring lesser creatures. Davis seems to have a particular fascination with crocodiles and furnishes Brutes and Savages with several scenes of crocs gobbling up other animals. The most notable of these is a prolonged and very grisly sequence in which a hapless jaguar wanders into the shallows and is torn to pieces and eaten by several of the ferocious reptiles. The unlikeliness of such a scenario makes it perhaps fair to question whether the sequence may have been cruelly staged for the cameras. Far nastier however are two all too genuine scenes in which defenceless animals are shown being mutilated and killed by man in lingering detail. Firstly there is the previously mentioned ceremonial dismemberment of a giant sea turtle but even that is topped in terms of sheer excruciation factor by a horrid scene in which natives ritualistically mutilate, kill and dismember a defenceless llama in a supposed “Sacrifice to Mother Earth”. The camera focuses in squarely on the gore as the poor, trussed up animal has its throat slit and its beating heart torn out of its chesty cavity in a scene which even more seasoned Mondo veterans might find a little hard to watch.

I really don’t think there is any disputing that with Brutes and Savages Arthur Davis serves up an absolute clunker of the highest order, one which must surely rate as the most inept and second rate Mondo film ever thrust upon exploitation fans. The only merits that Brutes and Savages possesses are purely technical, namely the excellent photography and Italian maestro Riz Ortolani’s score which is typically lyrical and solid even if it does have a habit of breaking into sudden bursts of funky pseudo-jazz at inappropriate moments. Otherwise Brutes and Savages is a thoroughly woeful attempt to mirror more successfully exploitative Italian excursions into the same territory as Davis crams his film with much boring travelogue footage. However, to be fair Brutes and Savages is not completely boring. On the contrary some of the unfathomably crap recreations and ludicrous footage that break up the tedium most notably the plastic crocodile attack are real side-splitters and as such Brutes and Savages offers enough unintentional laughs amidst all the dross and reprehensible animal abuse to be well worth a look for fans of ultra trashy exploitation, even perhaps for those who normally find no entertainment value in Mondo cinema. At the end of the day Brutes and Savages may be truly atrocious on practically every level, but no film that offers choice delights such as phoney crocodile attacks, graphic brain surgery, obscene pottery and simulated buggery of livestock could ever be a complete and total washout although Davis and his cronies almost manage it.

Also Try… Mondo Cane / Mondo Cane 2 / Savage Man… Savage Beast / This Violent World / Mondo Magic / Let Me Die A Woman / Budo: The Art Of Killing.

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Piczo