Done in voice over, much of the film feels like an early episode of Wild Kingdom. No real narrative and a little boring, save for the oddly frequent need to kill animals for fresh meat. But a critical eye will notice that scenes featuring the principles will show them in front of tall grass or shrubs while long shots feature the recognizable African Serengeti. But the reason for Ingagi’s infamy is in the final few minutes. A naked native woman is sacrificed to a gorilla. For, you know. Nudge nudge, wink wink.
Ingagi entered my radar years ago when I learned of a controversial, early exploitation film. It was either lost or unavailable until it appeared on YouTube a couple years ago. As mentioned, the filmmakers never went to Africa. They stole footage from earlier safari films, added scenes filmed at a local zoo, then recorded the narration. The end result is a somewhat plausible nature documentary, with a side order of implied bestiality. And if Charles Gemora, the man in the ape costume, fathered his children while wearing it, well, that’s his business.
Ingagi (a completely made up word) had difficulty being distributed but was wildly popular where it was shown. The MPAA tried to keep it suppressed but anti-trust legislation made that difficult. In the end, they resorted to insisting it be labeled a work of fiction. The filmmakers refused.
A great many words could be written about the kerfuffle this film caused, but there are videos that do a pretty good job covering that. But were I to focus only on what we see on screen, there wouldn’t be much to say. If nature films or safari adventure is your thing, look elsewhere. If sexy native women are your thing, look elsewhere. Ingagi was provocative in its day, but today it’s a snoozefest. AMRU 2.
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