The Emerald Forest is a 1985 British adventure drama film set in the Brazilian rainforest, directed by John Boorman, written by Rospo Pallenberg, and starring Powers Boothe, Meg Foster, and Charley Boorman with supporting roles by Rui Polanah, Tetchie Agbayani, Dira Paes, Estee Chandler, and Eduardo Conde.

The film opens on Markham, his wife Jean (Meg Foster), his young son Tommy (William Rodriguez), and his daughter Heather (Yara Vaneau) having a picnic on the edge of the jungle, which is being cleared for the dam's construction.

In the care of the Invisible People, Markham recovers from his injuries and discovers that his son has chosen a wife, a young woman named Kachiri (Dira Paes).

Jacareh, recognizing the destructive power of Markham's carbine, visits a seedy brothel at the edge of the construction zone and arranges to exchange women for ammunition and more guns.

The film ends with Tomme and Kachiri sitting at the swimming hole near their village in the jungle, watching the members of their tribe splash about and play.

[10] Derek Malcolm of The Guardian wrote, "This simplicity of expression, combined with Boorman's usual sophisticated visual technique, makes it a genuine oddity.

"[11] In a negative review, Paul Attanasio of The Washington Post called it "long, wheezy tribute to the Noble Savage" and more of "a National Geographic special" than a proper film.

[12] In addition to its Cannes selection, The Emerald Forest received three nominations at the 39th BAFTA Awards, for Best Cinematography (Philippe Rousselot), Best Original Music (Junior Homrich and Brian Gascoigne) and Best Makeup and Hair (Peter Frampton, Paul Engelen, Anna Dryhurst, Luis Michelotti and Beth Presares).

Critic Harlan Ellison in his book Harlan Ellison's Watching wrote that attempts by SCAN[14] to get background information on the real story revealed that Rospo Pallenberg's original screenplay was based on several stories,[15] including an article in the Los Angeles Times about a Peruvian labourer whose child had been abducted by a local Indian tribe and located sixteen years later almost fully assimilated.

These Amazonians were fiercely independent and had fled into the interior because they refused to live under the subservient conditions imposed by the rubber barons at that time.

[17][18] Contrary to Ellison's conclusion, a contemporaneous January 1985 review in Variety magazine states up front that the movie is "[b]ased on an uncredited true story about a Peruvian whose son disappeared in the jungles of Brazil.

[16] Because Embassy Pictures was struggling in the year of Emerald Forest's release, the film did not receive a traditional "For Your Consideration" advertising campaign for the 1985 Academy Awards.

Boorman took the initiative to promote the film himself by making VHS copies available for no charge to Academy members at several Los Angeles-area video rental stores.

Boorman's idea later became ubiquitous during Hollywood's award season, and by the 2010s, more than a million Oscar screeners were mailed to Academy members each year.