The Python Hunt
[For showtimes and trailer see Tropiccinema.com]

If you like your documentaries with an accent of Carl Hiassen, try “The Python Hunt” by Xander Robin. At times meandering, disturbing yet also compelling, this documentary chronicles an annual python hunt in the Florida Everglades.

One meets Richard Pereny who people say looks like Jason Momoa. He is from San Francisco. There is Jimbo McCartney, a transplant from New Jersey that never liked to be tied down, and who really wants to help the environment.

There is the rotund, tattooed and eccentric Toby Benoit, a self-described Florida cracker who is intrigued by reptiles. Finally, Anne Stratton, who resembles a sweet grandmother, waits with relish to stab a python through the head and make jelly out of its brain. The tone of this film is somewhat madcap, but it is also disquieting from an animal rights focus.

All of these people sign up for the annual hunt titled the Florida Python Challenge. 

Burmese pythons are an invasive species cause harm to the natural order. While this is certainly true, pythons are by no means the primary reason for the Everglades pain. These serpentine creatures are a snaky scapegoat. 

Much news has been generated about Burmese pythons, invariably all negative. They have been blamed for the harm of chickens, rats, raccoons, rabbits and other mammals. 

Each python hunt involves hours and hours of existential waiting, most of it yielding nothing. Through the progression of the documentary, it becomes clear that many contestants do not care about the environment and balance. They’re only concern is killing, aggression, conquest and dominion over the natural world.

Many segments are explicitly gory almost on par with the film “Faces of Death” from a reptilian perspective. Pythons are bloodily stabbed skinned and gutted. Eggs: bulging yellow sacs are unceremoniously removed by the fist and squashed between glutinous sticky fingers.

The previously mentioned Anne Stratton with great joy tells of her want to scramble a python’s brain as if in a blender and to make an X with the point of a knife. Regardless of her love for Bambi and Peter Cottontail she reveals herself here to be sadistic, angry and aggressive overcome with a love for violence and dismay in the python community.

Jimbo McCartney honestly relates that much of the contest is not concerned with Everglade health but only with rules and regulations while the participants are out for ego, notoriety and money.

During the final day of the 10 day challenge, a carnival atmosphere ensues with these spectacular, supernatural looking creatures being disemboweled, skinned and paraded in death. Such grim and festive scenes could be right out of “Two Thousand Maniacs!” (1964) by Herschell Gordon Lewis. 

During the 10 day contest, 296 pythons were caught and killed.

Over 1,400 pythons have been terminated since 2000. This only represents about 1% of the actual invasive population. The population can estimate to the hundreds of thousands according to online research.

In simple terms, efforts to remove the population have been in vain. According to the film, there has been no successful removal of an invasive species. 

Jimbo McCartney relates the harsh reality that no bunny lover wants to hear: that we are the main invasive species that do the most damage to the natural environment. The human being, a great selfish and insatiable white python that walks on two legs is the true Apex predator. Nature is indeed angry and rightly so.

Write Ian at ianfree1@icloud.com

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