Gringo Trails (2014)

Excellent, a Must See

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Gringo Trails explores the positives and negatives effects of one of the largest growing industries in the world, tourism. This film documentary, directed by Pegi Vail, follows backpackers through their adventures in the Amazon through countries in South America. The film shares the story of a young, college backpacker named Yossi Ghinsberg who ends up lost in the Amazon Rainforest of Bolivia. He is recused almost a month later and writes a book about it. The book is published and tourists began flocking to this area. The film opens with a quote from Chief Seattle that says, "Take only memories. Leave nothing but footprints". Several natives, tour guides, and travel writers are interviewed about how the influx of tourist and how it has effected their daily lives and how these tourist have disturbed their environments. The film reveals shots of liter-filled beaches of exclusive destinations that have become overrun by tourists. The documentary does include subtitles, which can be distracting, but it sometimes in necessary given the speaker. It is very educational and shows what can happen when a destination becomes too popular.

Gringo Trails is a documentary by: Pegi Vail. The film features the arrogance of Americans as tourists when they visit other countries. As they visit these countries they have the mindset that the United States is better than everyone else. So when the Americans are touring they cause destruction to these countries environments. I found the documentary interesting in the sense of showing Americans this perspective to get us to stop and think about what we typically do when we visit other places. Also it shows us instead how we should act. I feel that if it wasn't for this documentary people (we) wouldn't take a moment to stop and think about this. I remember this one scene where there was this giant cultural party where the entire shoreline was just flooded with nothing but beer bottles and knocked up people sleeping. This just kind of gives you a disgusted feeling of how tourists can cause a major impact on the environment. In this case turning the beauty of a beach into a place for drunks to crash. I would recommend this for people to watch to educate them and to show them the havoc they can do to a country as they are labeled as tourists without acknowledging it, plus it can destroy and deteriorate a country packed with: nature, beauty, and culture.

The film Gringo Trails allows the audience to see the real effects of tourism and a new perspective of the problems that it causes on both a local and global scale. It informs us of the evolving industry of tourism as well as the negative impacts that it has on the environment. This documentary shows the far off places of the Bolivian jungle, the beaches of Thailand, the deserts of Timbuktu, Mali, and Bhutan. These locations that were once hidden gems have been transformed over the years and turned it into an unauthentic experiences. Gringo Trails does an amazing job of pointing out that when visiting a foreign country, you are a 'guest' and should act as one.

This movie is extremely well done. It takes a little known subject: the effect that certain clueless, entitled young travelers have on fragile eco-systems around the world. Some of the footage is pretty disturbing-- you really hope someone will come along and throw these unbelievably spoiled people in jail or punish them somehow. You wonder how they can be so consumed by their own shallowness and lack of sensitivity. The film is a pretty devastating look at human behavior at its most awful and it explores how some previously exploited parts of the world are taking control and setting limits in order to preventively preserve their fragile environments and cultures. The filmmakers deserve a lot of praise for their elegant filmmaking style and for commenting so succinctly on the best and worst aspects of the human condition.