Deliverance

Four businessmen from the city go on a weekend trip to conquer a wild river in the Appalachians in canoes before it falls victim to a dam. But the hubris of civilization comes before the fall: the longed-for adventure turns into a confrontation with the uncanny, heralded by the strange encounter at the famous banjo duel. Vilmos Zsigmond masterfully directs the camera under extreme conditions in the raging water, the quartet led by the macho nature boy (Burt Reynolds) is unsettled and surrounded by nightmarish darkness, the rape of nature finally answered by the rape of an intruder. The skeptical romantic John Boorman brilliantly completes his elemental cinematic vision under the sign of ecological fears: the action-nature trip becomes a mythical odyssey through the realm of the dead. James Dickey, author of the original novel, makes a guest appearance and says ominously: “Let's just wait and see what comes out of the river.” (C.H.)