Black Pearl 10,000 A.D.

Indican Pictures

R1 DVD

Web: http://www.indicanpictures.com/

Black Pearl 10,000 A.D opens with a voice over describing the state of the present day with images of current world problems leading to an atomic catastrophe. As the world attempts to recover from the attack, it is plunged back into primitivism and what is left of humanity has split into two tribes – The Huron and the Plaebian.

The Huron age slower than the Plaebians and hence are more mature and more “spiritually developed”. They are a warrior tribe who use meditation and martial training as their way of life. The Plaebians work the valleys attempting to tame the wilderness but are over populated and stretching their resources to the limits and hence suffering from the effect of disease. Soon, however, a new terror arises, the Sinasu which is killing them both.

However, there is a prophecy about a warrior which will arise and defeat the evil. Kurupi, the one who many think will be the warrior, is superbly played and his doubts and inner turmoil are well presented. The climactic scene which reconciles the trials and reveals the real “saviour /warrior” is well thought out and a meaningful plot twist. I also liked the fact that the “evil one” was one a Huron who thought he was on the side of good; there is nothing as dangerous as a crusader!

Black Pearl 10,000 A.D. is a very unusual film, it features beautiful cinematography, a lilting new age music score and enough buff men to fill a muscle calendar. The story is told more by images, music and poetry (with some voice over dialogue) than in a narrative manner and is communicated in a mythic form. I found the martial arts and meditative aspects interesting, but the overemphasis on mysticism and “new age” imagery took away rather than added to the film. That being said the environmental message within the film was strong and resonant and many of the ideas within the film were certainly thought provoking, even if presented in a way that lacked a certain subtlety.

Black Pearl 10,000 A.D. is a visual feast, the crew filmed in some twelve national parks and the canyons, waterfalls and natural landscape is quite awe inspiring, it is certainly a background for a film.

The artificial language created for the film also created a unique feel which helped back up the suggestion that this was a post apocalyptic world.

This is a strange film which seems to be a cross between a modern hippy fable and a new age environmental film. It has superb cinematography but is marred by a plot and acting which seems to border on the comic. The way in which the characters explore their “spiritual” side becomes so truly outlandish that you scratch your head in total disbelief.

For me this is how not to make an environmental film, it is saturated with mumbo jumbo and ends up being a comedy rather than a serious work of cinema.

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This review will appear in Volume 3 No. 4 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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