Last of the Medicine Men

2000 · Documentary

Intrepid traveller and adventurer Benedict Allen journeys across the globe to examine the mysterious world of witch doctors, medicine men, and shamans.

Episodes

▶1. Episode 1Benedict Allen begins his quest in New York where he attempts to demystify the religion of voodoo.▶2. Episode 2Benedict Allen visits northern Haiti with a mambo, or medicine woman, for the festival of Ogun the Warrior, where he is unwittingly watched by a witch doctor with a notorious reputation.▶3. Episode 3This week Benedict Allen visits the Mentawai people on the rainforested island of Siberut in Indonesia. Under the tutelage of a young medicine man, or kerei, he tries to learn one of their sacred healing songs - knowing that if he gets the song wrong, the patient dies.▶4. Episode 4Benedict Allen is led into Indonesia's Siberut forest by Amam Dirikogo, a young kerei or medicine man, and comes across a rare species of singing gibbon. Concluding his training as a kerei, he attends a cleansing ceremony, and spends a night alone on one of the country's most sacred hills.▶5. Episode 528m · Benedict Allen's exploration of the shamanic world takes him to Central America, where he joins a group of Huichol Indians from Mexico's western Sierra Madre on their annual pilgrimage to the desert of Wirikuta in search of the peyote cactus. A powerful hallucinogen, the Huichol believe peyote enables them to communicate with the gods.▶6. Episode 628m · Continuing Benedict Allen's exploration of the dramatic world of Mexican witch doctors, medicine men, and shamans. In this second part of his travels in Mexico, Benedict Allen samples peyote, the cactus revered by the Huichol Indians. A small amount of the bitter-tasting flesh gives him a rare chance to see for himself the hidden realm of the gods.▶7. Episode 7Benedict Allen arrives in Siberia on the final leg of his journey into the world of witch doctors, medicine men, and shamans. This week and next he visits Tuva, where shamanism is experiencing a rise in popularity after 70 years of Soviet domination almost succeeded in wiping it out.▶8. Episode 8Benedict Allen concludes his exploration of the world's medicine men in the Siberian republic of Tuva. Allen seeks out an old shaman who gives a detailed description of the spirit world and speaks of energies he can feel as he heals.

More Like This

Maradona in Mexico

2019 · ★ 6.6

The Dorados, Culiacan's local team, are at the bottom of the rankings when Maradona arrives, looking for a fresh start. The experts predict disaster.

More info →

CHIVAS: El Rebaño Sagrado

2021 · ★ 7.5

This four-part docuseries chronicles one unforgettable season with one of Mexico's most popular soccer club, the Chivas of Guadalajara, as they strive to resurrect their legendary franchise from a series of devastating losses.

More info →

The 43

2019 · ★ 6.7

This docuseries disputes the Mexican government's account of how and why 43 students from Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College vanished in Iguala in 2014.

More info →

Necaxa

2025 · ★ 5.3

Beloved Mexican soccer team Club Necaxa strives to reclaim their place as one of Mexico's top teams, while their Mexican-American owner Eva Longoria tries to breathe new life into the team by enlisting the help of her high-profile friends including new co-owners Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds.

More info →

Basketball or Nothing

2019 · ★ 7.4

Follow the lives of the Chinle High basketball team in Arizona's Navajo Nation on a quest to win a state championship and bring pride to their isolated community.

More info →

El Tema

2021

No synopsis available.

More info →

Oh My Ghosts! Horror stories of Asian ghosts

2025 · ★ 8

Jumping vampire, cursed dancer, snake woman, wandering child dressed in red... These evil spirits, from Southeast Asian folklore, have found a resurgence in popularity in recent decades, notably thanks to cinema and television. These six episodes invite you to discover a little-known legendary universe, whose figures continue to haunt Chinese, Taiwanese and Thai imaginations.

More info →