Blueberry (film)
Encyclopedia
Blueberry is a 2004 French film directed by Jan Kounen
. It is an adaptation of the Franco-Belgian comic book
series Blueberry, illustrated by Jean Giraud
(better known as Moebius) and scripted by Jean-Michel Charlier
. The film starred Vincent Cassel
as the title character along with Michael Madsen
and Juliette Lewis
. Although the film is a French production, the language of the film is in English because the story is set in America's Wild West in the 1870s. Since the character of Blueberry remains obscure in the States, the film was released on DVD in America in November 2004 under the title Renegade and marketed very much as a conventional Western.
) (referred to as Broken Nose by the native tribe; unlike in the comic he does not have the nickname Blueberry) has dark memories of the death of his first love. He keeps peace between the Americans and the natives who had temporarily adopted and took care of him. The evil actions of Blount, a "white sorcerer" lead him to confront the villain in the Sacred Mountains, and, through shamanic rituals involving native entheogens, conquer his fears and uncover a suppressed memory
he would much rather deny.
creator and the illustrator of the original Blueberry comics, appears in a cameo role in the film, while Geoffrey Lewis, who had appeared in several spaghetti Western
s and his daughter Juliette Lewis
play a father and daughter in the movie.
The movie features several elaborate psychedelic
3D computer graphics
(fractal
) sequences as a means of portraying Blueberry's shamanic experiences from his point of view. Jan Kounen
, the director of the film, drew upon his extensive first hand knowledge of ayahuasca
rituals in order to design the visuals for these sequences, Kounen having undergone the ceremony at least a hundred times with Shipibo language speakers in Peru
. An authentic Shipibo ayahuasca guide appears in the film and performs a sacred chant. In the film, the exact nature of the entheogen
ic sacramental liquid which Blueberry (and his enemy, Blount) drink remains undisclosed. During the final visionary scene, however, there is a bowl of leaves shown accompanied by a twisting vine which is probably the ayahuasca vine, Banisteriopsis caapi
. Historically, Native American
s living in the Southwest United States, would have had no geographic access to ayahuasca.
Peyote
is shown growing in the sacred areas throughout the film, and the buttons are prominently displayed at the end, although we cannot be sure what Runi offers to the Marshall either time.
Jan Kounen
Jan Kounen is a Dutch-born French film director and producer.In France, he is mostly known for his films Dobermann , Blueberry, l'experience secrete and 99 francs ....
. It is an adaptation of the Franco-Belgian comic book
Franco-Belgian comics
Franco-Belgian comics are comics that are created in Belgium and France. These countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are known as BDs, an abbreviation of bande dessinée in French and stripverhalen in Dutch...
series Blueberry, illustrated by Jean Giraud
Jean Giraud
Jean Henri Gaston Giraud is a French comics artist. Giraud has earned worldwide fame, not only under his own name but also under the pseudonym Moebius, and to a lesser extent Gir, the latter appearing mostly in the form of a boxed signature at the bottom of the artist's paintings, for instance the...
(better known as Moebius) and scripted by Jean-Michel Charlier
Jean-Michel Charlier
Jean-Michel Charlier was a Belgian script writer best known as a writer of realistic European comics. He was a co-founder of the famed European comics magazine Pilote.-Biography:...
. The film starred Vincent Cassel
Vincent Cassel
Vincent Cassel is a Cesar award winning French actor probably best known to English-speaking audiences through his performances in the Ocean's Trilogy of films and Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.-Personal life:...
as the title character along with Michael Madsen
Michael Madsen
Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin...
and Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress...
. Although the film is a French production, the language of the film is in English because the story is set in America's Wild West in the 1870s. Since the character of Blueberry remains obscure in the States, the film was released on DVD in America in November 2004 under the title Renegade and marketed very much as a conventional Western.
Plot
U.S Marshal Mike Donovan (Vincent CasselVincent Cassel
Vincent Cassel is a Cesar award winning French actor probably best known to English-speaking audiences through his performances in the Ocean's Trilogy of films and Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.-Personal life:...
) (referred to as Broken Nose by the native tribe; unlike in the comic he does not have the nickname Blueberry) has dark memories of the death of his first love. He keeps peace between the Americans and the natives who had temporarily adopted and took care of him. The evil actions of Blount, a "white sorcerer" lead him to confront the villain in the Sacred Mountains, and, through shamanic rituals involving native entheogens, conquer his fears and uncover a suppressed memory
Recovered memory
Recovered memory is the description given to the apparent resurrection of the memory of events that had been forgotten or suppressed for a relatively long time. Retrograde amnesia secondary to physical or emotional trauma , or the suppression of painful memories from any cause, is an accepted concept...
he would much rather deny.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Vincent Cassel Vincent Cassel Vincent Cassel is a Cesar award winning French actor probably best known to English-speaking audiences through his performances in the Ocean's Trilogy of films and Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.-Personal life:... |
Blueberry |
| Juliette Lewis Juliette Lewis Juliette Lewis is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress... |
Maria |
| Michael Madsen Michael Madsen Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin... |
Wallace Sebastian Blount |
| Temuera Morrison Temuera Morrison Temuera Derek Morrison is a New Zealand-born actor. He has become one of the country's most famous stars for his roles as the abusive Jake "the Muss" Heke in 1994's Once Were Warriors and as bounty hunter Jango Fett and the Clone Troopers in the Star Wars series... |
Runi |
| Ernest Borgnine Ernest Borgnine Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty... |
Rolling Star |
| Djimon Hounsou Djimon Hounsou Djimon Diaw Hounsou is a Beninese actor and model. As an actor, Hounsou has been nominated for two Academy Awards.-Early life:Djimon Hounsou was born in Cotonou, Benin, in 1964, to lbertine and Pierre Hounsou, a cook. He emigrated to Lyon in France at the age of thirteen with his brother, Edmond.... |
Woodhead |
| Hugh O'Conor Hugh O'Conor Hugh O'Conor is an Irish actor. His first film appearance was opposite Liam Neeson in the 1985 movie Lamb. Currently, he has two upcoming projects: Finding Fate and Operation H²O.-Biography:... |
Young Mike |
| Geoffrey Lewis | Sullivan |
| Nichole Hiltz Nichole Hiltz Nichole Marie Hiltz is an American actress. She has appeared in the film May, A Midsummer Night's Rave, and the Sci Fi Channel movie All Souls Day and since 2008 has played Brandi Shannon on the USA network television series In Plain Sight.Hiltz has made guest appearances on several television... |
Lola |
| Kateri Walker | Kateri |
| Vahina Giocante Vahina Giocante -Movie roles:As Marie in Marie Baie des Anges , she is among a group of young wanderers who become enmeshed in love, hate, and violence on the French Riviera.... |
Madeleine |
| Kestenbetsa | Kheetseen |
| Tchéky Karyo Tchéky Karyo -Early life:Karyo was born in Istanbul to a Greek mother and Sephardic-Jewish father and raised in Paris, France. He studied drama at the Cyrano Theatre and later became a member of the Daniel Sorano Company, playing many classical roles.-Career:... |
Uncle |
| Eddie Izzard Eddie Izzard Edward John "Eddie" Izzard is a British stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime... |
Prosit |
| Colm Meaney Colm Meaney Colm J. Meaney is an Irish actor widely known for playing Miles O'Brien in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He is second only to Michael Dorn in most appearances in Star Trek episodes. He has guest-starred on many TV shows from Law & Order to The Simpsons... |
McClure |
Production
Jean Giraud, the famous Franco-Belgian comicsFranco-Belgian comics
Franco-Belgian comics are comics that are created in Belgium and France. These countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are known as BDs, an abbreviation of bande dessinée in French and stripverhalen in Dutch...
creator and the illustrator of the original Blueberry comics, appears in a cameo role in the film, while Geoffrey Lewis, who had appeared in several spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
s and his daughter Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress...
play a father and daughter in the movie.
The movie features several elaborate psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
(fractal
Fractal
A fractal has been defined as "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduced-size copy of the whole," a property called self-similarity...
) sequences as a means of portraying Blueberry's shamanic experiences from his point of view. Jan Kounen
Jan Kounen
Jan Kounen is a Dutch-born French film director and producer.In France, he is mostly known for his films Dobermann , Blueberry, l'experience secrete and 99 francs ....
, the director of the film, drew upon his extensive first hand knowledge of ayahuasca
Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine-containing species of shrubs from the Psychotria genus...
rituals in order to design the visuals for these sequences, Kounen having undergone the ceremony at least a hundred times with Shipibo language speakers in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. An authentic Shipibo ayahuasca guide appears in the film and performs a sacred chant. In the film, the exact nature of the entheogen
Entheogen
An entheogen , in the strict sense, is a psychoactive substance used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context. Historically, entheogens were mostly derived from plant sources and have been used in a variety of traditional religious contexts...
ic sacramental liquid which Blueberry (and his enemy, Blount) drink remains undisclosed. During the final visionary scene, however, there is a bowl of leaves shown accompanied by a twisting vine which is probably the ayahuasca vine, Banisteriopsis caapi
Banisteriopsis caapi
Banisteriopsis caapi, also known as Ayahuasca, Caapi or Yage, is a South American jungle vine of the family Malpighiaceae. It is used to prepare Ayahuasca, a decoction that has a long history of entheogenic uses as a medicine and "plant teacher" among the indigenous peoples of the Amazon Rainforest...
. Historically, Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
s living in the Southwest United States, would have had no geographic access to ayahuasca.
Peyote
Peyote
Lophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...
is shown growing in the sacred areas throughout the film, and the buttons are prominently displayed at the end, although we cannot be sure what Runi offers to the Marshall either time.