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Jungle Rudy, kroniek van een familie

Documentary, 2006, 89 min.

In the fifties, a banker's son from The Hague made the headlines as Jungle Rudy. All by himself, he had hiked into the tropical forest of Venezuela where, sick and exhausted, he was saved by Indians. Subsequently, he stayed on in the wilderness where he and his family founded the exotic holiday resort Ucaima, which was visited by the great of the earth.
Rob Smits started a search for Jungle Rudy, who died in 1994. His second daughter Gaby runs Ucaima nowadays. She disposes of boxes of home movies, cassette tapes and letters, which Smits freely drew from. Illustrated by breathtaking scenery, a psychological portrait arises of a restless man who broke away from his background and proceeded to transfer it to the Venezuelan jungle. He left his Austrian wife for a life as a playboy in Caracas, but wept bitter tears when she died.
One of his daughters says: 'It seemed forbidden to discuss personal matters'. But Rudy's three daughters, for their part, are also unable to break free from their roots.

won prizes

  • NL - Netherlands Film Festival Golden Calf (5)

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