House of the Tiger King Movie Review:


The documentary “House of the Tiger King” opens in the jungle. The man being filmed is having an argument with the man doing the filming. He wants
to go further into the jungle; the filmmaker wants to stop. ‘You’re just making a film,’ says the man, ‘I’m looking for a lost city,’ before disappearing into the thick trees. In voice over, the director asks, ‘is
this really how my film ends?’

The documentary is the story of how those two men got to that point, with one storming off into the jungle, unable to stop looking for something he
can’t find. He is Tahir Shah, the British explorer. The filmmaker is David Flamholc, who wanted to record Shah’s quest for the lost city of Paititi in
Peru.

They met in Britain; David was an admirer of Shah, and contacted him with the idea for a documentary about one of his quests. Shah thinks this is a
good idea, funding the film from his own savings. He tells David about Paititi, and how an ancient manuscript he has found will lead them to it
through its cryptic clues (when David asks what the clues are, he simply says that they are very cryptic, and that they are definitely clues). This
manuscript turns out not to exist. How will we find the city then? David wonders.

Richard Fowler may be the answer. He is an American Vietnam veteran, who will act as their guide through the rain forest. To call him eccentric
would be an insult to eccentric people. This man is insane. When Shah and David get to Peru (in late 2001) and meet him, he finds a mummified skull,
and spends a long time pondering whether or not he should keep it for good luck. He is described as being the only man who went to fight in Vietnam
and ‘enjoyed it.’ The Robert Duvall character from “Apocalypse Now” sprung to mind.

Shah (whose recorded tapes narrate much of the film) and Flamholc both get annoyed with Richard, partly because of his disorganisation, partly because of his ‘perpetual good mood.’ There is, I suppose, the possibility that he is on drugs; he says that he knows where Paititi is because he took some hallucinogenic drugs and flew over the country in his mind, memorising the geography. Not long into the journey, he becomes ill and moody, and when he gets better, decides to leave the two men. He steals some of Shah’s tapes
and Richard’s film.

They find a new guide, a Peruvian elderly man called Eduardo, who suggests they cleanse their spirits for three months before going to find the city.
Shah says his spirit is just dandy, and convinces Eduardo to leave with them. He warns them about the high water at that time of year, which might
block the route. Eventually they get to what is known as ‘the gateway to Paititi.’ The high water has blocked the route. Shah and Flamholc go back
to London for five months, then back to Peru again.

The conflicts continue. Shah starts getting impatient with Richard and his film crew, whose heavy equipment is slowing the expedition down. Their food supplies (consisting mainly of Pot Noodles) start to run low. The weather is changeable; one minute it is unbearably hot, then the rain pours down, then there is a terrible thunderstorm.

David never comments on how likely it is that they will find Paititi. I imagine that, like us, he thinks the chances are somewhere between low and
non-existent. The Peruvian locals all agree that the city is real, but their directions to it are fantasies.

To some degree, a documentary is about its own making as well as its subject. I don’t know what David Flamholc expected the trip to be like. He
certainly doesn’t think it is much fun. He is not just documenting it; he is a real part of it.

The editing of this documentary is excellent, considering the fact that David never got the ending he wants. I am not sure what he expected the
documentary to be like; perhaps he thought they might really find the city. Perhaps he thought that it would be a tale of failure. The film he ends up
with is a fascinating portrayal of what it is like to be stuck in the jungle; how it effects your state of mind, and your trust for others. It is also about a man who both loves and hates the journey, and is obsessive about finding something he cannot find.

Shah is an interesting man, who knows a lot about history and exploration, and whose books on the subjects sell well. Sometimes on the journey, his
impatience approaches childishness. Sometimes we can understand him; I’d get pretty impatient with a guide like Richard too. His search might as
well be for the Holy Grail, yet he does not give up. The fact that the film does not use the word ‘quixotic’ to describe him is miraculous, as the word is so perfectly suited to his quest. How far is it now? David asks at one point. ‘It’s far. Very far.’ Yeah. No matter how far you walk in that
jungle, it’s always going to be very, very far. But try telling that to Tahir Shah.

**** (out of 5)

Adam Whyte

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