Medicine Man

(Mis)adventures in the remote Brazilian jungle with Sean Connery and Lorraine Bracco

A biochemist from a pharmaceutical company in New York (Bracco) goes deep into the rain forest of the Amazon to locate researcher Robert Campbell (Connery) and determine if his work is still worth funding.

“Medicine Man” (1992) is a jungle drama in the mold of "The Emerald Forest" (1985). There’s a little bit of adventure and, unsurprisingly, romance. Right off the bat the relationship between the two is characterized by amusing bickering, which isn’t exactly realistic. If you can roll with that, there’s a lot to appreciate along with some eye-rolling bits.

As far as the latter goes, if the missing ingredient for the cancer cure is as glaring to the viewer, then I’m pretty sure it would be obvious to Nobel-winning scientists working in the field. Also, the Amazon rain forest is the size of a huge country and lightly populated, is it very likely that the road being built would go directly into where the much-needed ingredient exists, not to mention the tribe?

Still, there are entertaining elements and, sometimes, a palpable sense of wonder. Bracco has her feminine appeal and is amusing as Rae Crane, albeit annoying to some tastes (like Connery’s character isn’t?).

The movie runs 1 hour, 46 minutes, and was shot in Southern Mexico, the area of Catemaco, Veracruz, Mexico (producers learned from money pits such as "The Emerald Forest" that shoots in the actual Amazon Basin just cost too much).

GRADE: B-