The plot centers around the need of the local government to clear the rainforest of these natives in order to exploit the gold and other raw materials to be found there. The magistrate hires a bush pilot, Lewis Moon (Tom Berenger) to do the deed, but instead Moon sides with the natives and in fact gives up his plane and his clothes to join them instead. Because he has parachuted down, the natives see him as a God, which leads to Moon’s internal conflict about imposing his own will on this primitive culture.

Meanwhile, two couples who are missionaries from an evangelical church journey into the same Brazilian rain forest on a mission to convert the heathen to Christianity. But their methods are in conflict. One couple (played by John Lithgow and Kathy Bates) are old-fashioned puritans who want to convert the heathens to Christianity and remove all traces of their own culture. Quinn and Hannah are more spiritually minded, hoping to make a connection and a cultural exchange with the Indians they encounter. They don’t know they are trapped in their own preconceptions, and soon their efforts lead to misunderstanding, murder, and utter failure for both their mission and for the fate of the natives.

There is a lot of nudity in the film, and not just from the indigenous population as one might expect. Tom Berenger, Kathy Bates, and Daryl Hannah all have multiple nude scenes that are non-exploitive, natural, and essential to the storyline.

This 3-hour movie takes its time developing its characters and sub-plots, and at times it seems to move too slowly. Yet in retrospect, there is not a frame I would have edited out. This is not an "action-packed adventure," but a thought-provoking study in humanity at its best and worst, so be prepared to stick it out.

The movie does a good job of conveying the essence of the original book by Peter Matthiessen, despite not being able to delve into the thoughts of the characters in the way that the book did. Director Hector Babenco has given us well-developed characters, magical scenery, and a compelling plot. His film has an unusually deep moral sense that will leave you thinking about the fate of these natives – and by projection the fate of the peoples of Iraq and others where modern nations have tried to impose his own sense of civilization onto others who are not ready for it.