Keep the River on Your Right (2000)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Directed by David Shapiro & Laurie Gwen Shapiro
Cinematography and Additional Photography by Elizabeth Dory
Starring Tobias Schneebaum

Features:

• Deleted Scenes
  
• Photo/Sketch Gallery with Schneebaum’s work
  
• Illustrations from the book Jungle Journey
  
• Schneebaum’s Biography
  
• Filmmaker Biographies
  

Rating: R

Anamorphic: No

My Advice: Rent it.

In 1955, a New York artist and part-time anthropologist named Tobias Schneebaum went to Peru on a Fulbright scholarship. While there, he went in search of a mission in the jungle, finding instead a barely known native tribe and joining them for eight months. While a part of this tribe, Schneebaum “went native,” engaging in all of the local culture’s behaviors, including cannibalism. Eventually, a rather savage raid on a neighboring tribe led him to leave their way of life and return to the modern world. Keep the River on Your Right is a documentary about Schneebaum and his recent return to the jungles of Peru, encountering the remnants of that same headhunting tribe and confronting the demons within himself.

If you view this documentary expecting sensationalism or an in-depth, gut-wrenching look at cannibalism, then you will be disappointed. The film is instead a sensitive look at Schneebaum and his journey, returning to the place where his life changed dramatically, as well as other places where he became at home with drastically different cultures, such as in New Guinea. There are some segments devoted to the more socially unusual aspects of Schneebaum’s life, such as the fact that he was raised as a Jew, but is a homosexual. The man’s gentleness and grace show forth, especially when the film crew takes him onward, despite his protestations, his advanced age, and physical ailments. The fact that he does little complaining says a lot about his kindness and politeness.

This film is in many ways a moving hymn to the innocence and purity of life Schneebaum sees as a part of native ways of life, both in the Peruvian Amazon and in New Guinea. He sees these peoples as fundamentally more honest than we are in the West, as well as more capable of open sexual and romantic attachments, free of the encumbrances of modern society. Anyone who has ever felt as if his or her sexual identity is unusual compared to the socially acceptable norm will sympathize with Schneebaum’s thoughts on this matter.

Given that much of this documentary was shot in the middle of the densest jungle on Earth, the quality is remarkably good. Some of the film segments are vintage television shots of Schneebaum on the talk show circuit when he first wrote his book in the 1960s, and these bits are grainy as you would expect.

The features on this disc are decent enough. The extra scenes go even further in showing Schneebaum’s gentle and enigmatic character, and it is nice to have the samples from his children’s book, as well. The original art gallery just isn’t big enough to show his skill, but is a nice addition, nonetheless.

Ultimately, Keep the River on Your Right asks more questions than it answers, both for Schneebaum himself and for viewers. If you can cope with the rather fragmented style, then this can be a moving and engrossing documentary, teaching you more about human nature than about any given native culture. Schneebaum is in no way an ordinary character, but after viewing this film, I can’t help thinking that’s a shame, even if he did once swallow a small piece of human flesh. We can, after all, all think of many worse things humans do to each other all the time. Check this one out and see for yourself.