'The Python Hunt' Review
From the makers of Spermworld and Ren Faire comes another surprisingly sincere and marvelously visualized look at a presumed-to-be-lesser realm of interest.
Bait-and-switch is a mostly negative term used for retail fraud, but I sometimes use it to describe documentaries that lure in audiences expecting one thing but deliver something better. Previously, I’ve used the term in my appreciations for The Queen of Versailles, No No: A Dockumentary, American Nightmare, and The Perfect Neighbor, all of which could easily draw in reality TV or true-crime aficionados with their sensational-sounding premise and then give them more depth than they’re used to. I’m adding The Python Hunt to the list since it seems like it’d be another wild showcase of “Florida Man” fodder, but it is really a complex and considerate ensemble-driven treasure. In fact, it’s one of the best documentaries of the year (to be added to our list next term).
Of course, if you’re already the sort of person who seeks out great documentaries instead of trashy delights, The Python Hunt has a lot of elements to draw you in. Visionary nonfiction auteur Lance Oppenheim produced the film and hired his longtime friend Xander Robin (Are We Not Cats) to direct it. One of its primary cinematographers, David Bolen, shot Oppenheim’s features Some Kind of Heaven and Spermworld (as well as a few of Ben Proudfoot’s shorts), so you know it’s going to look better, or at least more intently cinematographic, than most documentaries. Its editor, Max Allman, cut Oppeheim’s incredible series Ren Faire. The score is by Nick León, who isn’t known for documentaries, but his electronic music, celebrated for representing a dark Southern Florida mood, is a perfect match.
The documentary’s surface-level focus is the annual Florida Python Challenge, which brings people from all over the country (and some hopefuls from other parts of the world) to the Everglades for a contest promoting the (humane) slaughter of Burmese pythons. These snakes are invasive to the area, explained in a brief but mind-boggling backstory, and they are blamed for the devastation of the ecosystem and its wildlife. Robin begins by introducing some of the characters participating in the hunt, as if establishing the film as a typical competition documentary. They range in age, experience, and motives. For many, the thrill of the kill is worth more than the prize money. The all-night search for the snakes is also part of the fun, at least at first.
If that sounds appealing for its potential to shock and amuse with extraordinary scenarios and characters, you’re a good mark. And you will see your share of blood, danger, drunkenness, sexual tension, and python pithing (the last maybe not as graphically as anticipated). However, you’ll also experience a healthy debate about the competition from several sides, understand all of these properly portrayed characters’ reasons for entering or condemning the challenge, and view it all through sharp, stunning, deliberately lit visuals. Robin never sets his participants up for judgment or mockery. Even when the octogenarian hunter, Anne, is depicted regularly drinking her gin and (a minimal amount of) tonic, emphasized with insert shots, any cringe-induced laughter soon gives way to sympathy, if not empathy, for the woman.
The Python Hunt doesn’t conclude with a champion among its characters, or any concentration on the outcome other than its surprising kill count. Half of the people populating the film’s narrative aren’t even taking part in the main contest. Robin follows a man who was formerly employed by the state to exterminate pythons year-round, who is barred from the challenge. There are individuals in the documentary who defend against the state and its competition’s capitalization of the cultural vilification of snakes, and there are those who offer other theories on the causes of the Everglades’ ecological crisis. At times, the film veers more into the science and nature genre than audiences looking for an outrageous midnight movie will be prepared for.
I believe anyone who does arrive at The Python Hunt with certain expectations will still be more than satisfied with what they find. They shouldn’t be turned off by how smart it is; the film is not that heavy. Similar to the film’s characters, many of whom experience a different journey or reach a different destination than they assume, viewers may also go through their own arcs from beginning to end. There’s a lot of insight to be gleaned from all the varied participants. And it’s still a very entertaining film, just in a more rewarding fashion, and with a brilliant mix of style and substance. As much as I am a fan of Oppenheim’s own directorial projects, I have to admit I’m glad he had his friend helm this one, as Robin seems even more of a compassionate collaborator than curious observer when it comes to the subject matter.