Ellen Cherry
12-29-2005, 12:47 PM
I recall seeing a portion of a movie as a child--and the scene I saw made a gruesome impression upon me. I spent many hours pondering the possibilites of what I saw, and only a re-viewing, as an adult, could tell me if childish imagination supplied these details, or if there actually was a movie made that was indeed this ghastly.
Here's what my memory tells me I saw:
Deep in the jungle, possibly on a South Seas island, some white people spy on some natives deep in Celebration/Sacrifice Mode. Much dancing about to the throbbing beat of the drum. Crazy firelight plays upon their painted faces. Chanting/singing fills the night air.
At a preappointed time, a victim is selected and tied to two narrow trees, which have been bent all the way to the ground to sort of form an M. Here is the grisly part: to each tree has been tied one foot of the victim. The terrified victim awaits the signal and then WHACK! They cut the trees loose and he is torn in two!!
Then ... the white people are discovered peeking in on this ritual. Uh-oh. You know what comes next. One of Our Heroes is tied to the trees! Will he be torn asunder? Right in front of the beautiful girl, inexplicably on the trip?
I would lay awake at night, wondering: would the victim be actually ripped in two, straight down the middle? What about the head? In two? I later realized that probably one of the legs would just get ripped off. More pondering. Would they die right away? Did the body (in its two halves, or one-legged state) just hang in the treetop--or were they flung away into the underbrush? As I say, the whole thing preyed upon my little mind considerably.
So what say thee? Possibly germ of truth blown hideously out of proportion by the innocent imagines of a child, who has no idea of what real cruelty and torture is? Or did someone actually make a movie that contained such hideous scenes?
Do respond if you have a clue--or simply wish to comment upon my depraved mind. ;)
Here's what my memory tells me I saw:
Deep in the jungle, possibly on a South Seas island, some white people spy on some natives deep in Celebration/Sacrifice Mode. Much dancing about to the throbbing beat of the drum. Crazy firelight plays upon their painted faces. Chanting/singing fills the night air.
At a preappointed time, a victim is selected and tied to two narrow trees, which have been bent all the way to the ground to sort of form an M. Here is the grisly part: to each tree has been tied one foot of the victim. The terrified victim awaits the signal and then WHACK! They cut the trees loose and he is torn in two!!
Then ... the white people are discovered peeking in on this ritual. Uh-oh. You know what comes next. One of Our Heroes is tied to the trees! Will he be torn asunder? Right in front of the beautiful girl, inexplicably on the trip?
I would lay awake at night, wondering: would the victim be actually ripped in two, straight down the middle? What about the head? In two? I later realized that probably one of the legs would just get ripped off. More pondering. Would they die right away? Did the body (in its two halves, or one-legged state) just hang in the treetop--or were they flung away into the underbrush? As I say, the whole thing preyed upon my little mind considerably.
So what say thee? Possibly germ of truth blown hideously out of proportion by the innocent imagines of a child, who has no idea of what real cruelty and torture is? Or did someone actually make a movie that contained such hideous scenes?
Do respond if you have a clue--or simply wish to comment upon my depraved mind. ;)