The six-month shoot in the Amazonian jungle was plagued by sickness, heat, reptiles, and other insect creatures. The tagline of the dramatic and epic adventure story, about the clash of civilization vs. The film was set in the early s, and opened with a plane running out of fuel in the dense Brazilian Amazon River basin, where members of the Niaruna tribes lived upriver and deep in the jungle.
Currently in the area of Mae de Deus "Mother of God" , there were also various groups of missionaries who were there to do "the Lord's work" - to convert the indigenous peoples to Christianity. They also attempted to bring Western civilization to the primitive natives, usurping their own ways by bribing them with food and other bribe-gifts and trinkets, and forcing them to adopt foreign practices such as baptism and clothing to cover-up nudity:.
To leave Mae de Deus with a tank of gas and approved papers, Moon and Wolf were offered a deal by the corrupt, ruthless and land-hungry Commandante Guzman to frighten the tribal villagers in the Niaruna settlement identified by a clearing and large roundhouse in the middle of the jungle , by bombing them from their small plane in order to scare and chase them off "for their own good" and facilitate gold-mining and reap profits within the area.
However, once Moon flew over the area with Wolf, he noticed the natives defending their village with simple bows and arrows, and decided against the Commander's diabolical agenda to eliminate the natives who impeded "progress. Lewis decided to return to his wild tribal roots and seek his true identity after he received a spiritual calling. He drugged himself with a drink known as "ayahuasca" to cause hallucinations, then flew by himself over the deep jungled area.
He radioed back: "I'm at play in the fields of the Lord," then jumped out with a parachute, stripped naked and entered the Niaruna village while being escorted by tribesmen.
