Daniel Radcliffe plays Yossi Ghinsberg in “Jungle,” a 2017 survival drama directed by Greg McLean and written by Justin Monjo. The film follows Ghinsberg’s 1981 journey into the Bolivian Amazon, a true story about a trip that turned into a fight for survival.
Trailer, via Momentum Pictures.
The Journey Begins
Yossi travels to Bolivia in 1981 to explore the Amazon. He meets Marcus Stamm, a Swiss school teacher, and Kevin Gale, an American hiker and photographer. They stay in La Paz at an Israeli community hostel. An Austrian stranger named Karl Ruprechter offers to guide them to a remote indigenous tribe, promising to show them a secret path through the jungle.
The Descent Into The Jungle
The group hikes for days, reaching a village called Asriamas where Karl clearly knows the locals. Marcus’s feet develop bloody sores, and Kevin and Yossi grow tired of his complaints. Karl wants to leave the three behind while he goes for help. Kevin and Yossi refuse.
Trust Crumbles
The film slows at this point, with Karl’s motives growing darker and the group’s trust in him eroding. The jungle itself becomes less a backdrop and more a living threat, with snakes, insects and the sheer scale of the forest working against them.
The Cast
Radcliffe anchors the film as Yossi, bringing a mix of enthusiasm and fear to a man who believes his adventure will change his life. Alex Russell plays Kevin as the skeptic, and Thomas Kretschmann plays Karl as a man whose kindness hides something far more dangerous.
Joel Jackson plays Marcus as a man whose body betrays him in the jungle. Yasmin Kassim appears as Kina, and Jacek Koman plays Yossi’s father, with Angie Milliken as his mother.
Where It Falls Short
The film’s middle stretch drags. Karl’s plan is simple enough to explain in a sentence, and the story spends too long circling around it before the stakes actually rise. The film also leans on cheap scares rather than genuine tension.
The Running Order
| Scene | Event |
|---|---|
| Market | Yossi meets Karl |
| Hostel | The group stays in La Paz |
| Jungle | The group hikes toward Asriamas |
| Village | They reach Asriamas |
| Camp | Marcus’s feet break down |
| Trail | Karl leaves for help |
The film runs 115 minutes.
“Jungle” is a film about greed, fear and the limits of trust. It is not the best survival story ever made, but it is a sincere one, and Radcliffe’s commitment to the role is worth seeing.
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