Turistas (Portuguese and Spanish for Tourists) is a 2006 American thriller film directed and produced by John Stockwell. In some regions of the world, such as France, the Republic of Ireland, Malta and the UK, the film has been released under the alternative title Paradise Lost.[1]
| Turistas | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | John Stockwell |
| Written by | Michael Arlen Ross |
| Produced by | Marc Butan John Stockwell Scott Steindorff Bo Zenga Todd Wagner Mark Cuban |
| Starring | Josh Duhamel Melissa George Olivia Wilde Desmond Askew Beau Garrett Max Brown |
| Cinematography | Enrique Chediak Peter Zuccarini (underwater) |
| Edited by | Jeff McEvoy |
| Music by | Paul Haslinger |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Fox Atomic |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 minutes 98 minutes (Unrated cut) |
| Country | Template:Film US |
| Languages | English Portuguese |
| Budget | $10 million |
| Box office | $14,690,987 |
Plot
This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (January 2012) |
Three young American tourists, Alex (Josh Duhamel), his sister Bea (Olivia Wilde) and a friend Amy (Beau Garrett), backpacking in Brazil, decide to go by bus and sightsee portions of the country, instead of flying directly to the Northeastern beaches they wish to visit. After a bus crash they are joined by two English men, Finn (Desmond Askew) and Liam (Max Brown) and the Australian Pru Stagler (Melissa George) and head to the beach looking for a bar. There they get involved in a party with locals but are served drugged drinks and pass out. The next morning, they awaken on the deserted beach, with only the clothes they had on, stripped of luggage, money, and documents. Looking for help in the nearby village, they encounter conflict with locals as they see some of their belongings worn or lying around. Offering help, Kiko (Agles Steib), a local who speaks some English, volunteers to take them to an isolated cabin in the forest, where they can wait for help. In a long walk through the wilderness, Kiko shows them a “secret place”, a cave beneath a waterfall, but, taking a bad dive into the river, Kiko hits the rocky bottom, and is rendered unconscious and begins bleeding profusely from a cut in his head. Proceeding to the cabin in the jungle, they find food, clothes, and prescription drugs in a number of different names and a drawer filled with other people’s passports. They manage to seal Kiko's wound and hesitantly spend the night at the cabin.
They are awakened in the middle of the night by a helicopter bringing Zamora (Miguel Lunardi), a physician, and a few associates. They are advised to flee, because Zamora has twisted plans for them, but they are beaten into compliance. Zamora proceeds to a makeshift operating room where he removes organs from Amy, who is sedated, while he explains to Finn, who is tied up, that organ theft for transplant from Brazilians[2] by rich gringos is part of a pattern of exploitation of Brazilian “resources”, and that it is time to “give back”. Victims' usable organs are being harvested and sent to the People’s Hospital in Rio de Janeiro and used for the benefit of the poor.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group outside manage to break free of their cages, fighting and killing one of Zamora’s associates, with the aid of Kiko, who returned after being sent away by Zamora. Alex sends Bea and Pru to wait by the waterfall they passed on the way to the remote residence. Then, he, Kiko and Liam attempt to raid the cabin. They successfully rescue Finn, who is partially unable to walk because he has been sedated, but while they are running away from the cabin, Finn is shot in the head. Alex realizes they have to resume their escape, but Liam, incensed by the death of his friend, decides to stay behind and fight back, only to be shot and taken away to be "salvaged". By the waterfall, Alex, Bea and Pru try to hide inside the flooded cave Kiko showed them, eluding one of Zamora’s associates who is trailing close behind, armed with a bow and arrows, and Zamora’s party. For a time, they are able to put some distance between themselves and their pursuers. Diving and swimming to the cavern's secondary entrance, they find Zamora is already there, and he shoots them in the water, killing Kiko and injuring Alex.
The survivors are forced to backtrack into the water of the cave, where they can take air at only a few places. They split up, looking for breathing points, trying not to be noticed and fall prey to the archer. Bea and the archer meet at the same breathing spot, but Bea grabs an arrow from the man, stabbing him in the neck and killing him. Alex, Bea and Pru get out of the cave only to run into Zamora. Alex goes berserk, jumps Zamora and repeatedly hits him in the head with a rock. Alex is interrupted by the arrival of one of Zamora’s associates, who is armed with a rifle. Zamora instructs him to kill the foreigners. Seeing the trio of survivors, vulnerable and scared, and Zamora in agony, the man hesitates. This infuriates Zamora, who orders the gunman, to carry out the killing. Pru tries to convince the gunman to spare them, pointing out how Zamora speaks to him in derogatory terms, Zamora calls the gunman a coward, and is shot in the head by the gunman who turns and walks off. Soon after, the survivors, coming out of the jungle, meet local villagers who help them to recover.
Later, Alex and Bea stand in line, waiting to board an airplane, while a couple of tourists behind them argue over going by bus. Alex advises them; “Take the plane”.
Cast
- Josh Duhamel as Alex
- Melissa George as Prue
- Olivia Wilde as Bea
- Desmond Askew as Finn
- Beau Garrett as Amy
- Max Brown as Liam
- Agles Steib as Kiko
- Miguel Lunardi as Zamora
- Jorge Só as Bus driver
- Cristiani Aparecida as Native beauty
- Lucy Ramos as Arolea
- Andréa Leal as Camila
- Diego Santiago as Jacaré
- Marcão as Ranan
- Miguelito Acosta as Jamoru
Reception
The film was poorly received by the critics, receiving a combined score of 16% from Rotten Tomatoes.[3] The New York Times reported that the movie was "plain stupid", while The Hollywood Reporter felt that an unsettling atmosphere was built at the start but that "the movie begins to fall apart around the halfway point". The film did, however, receive a positive review from Larry Ratliff, film critic for the San Antonio Express-News, who said that the film was "shockingly brilliant". Fangoria Magazine, meanwhile, claimed that it was "a better and scarier film than Hostel".
Brazilian reaction
The film caused some controversy in Brazil, because of the unrealistic and biased image of the country,[4][5] and American actor Josh Duhamel apologized to the Brazilian government and to the Brazilian people during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He said that it was not the intention of the film to stop tourists from visiting Brazil.[6]
Home media
In the United States, Turistas came out on DVD March 29, 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, and was advertised as being "Too Gruesome For Theaters".
Sequel
A direct-to-DVD sequel titled Turistas 2: Jungle Fever, was filmed in Fall 2010, and released in May 2011.
References
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454970/releaseinfo#akas
- ^ http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/biotech/organswatch/pages/brazil.html
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/turistas/
- ^ Template:Pt icon The blog of Marcelo Tas, a Brazilian journalist and TV host
- ^ Template:Pt icon Article published in O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper
- ^ Template:Pt icon Article published in O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper