Death was supposed to be a way out, not a way in. In the misty mountains of southern Mexico, masked rebels resist globalisation and paramilitary attacks. A murder and a suicide see two men renounce their past lives: one ancient, the other modern. Above a shaman throwing sacred artifacts into a river, Justin Callaghan approaches a waterfall's edge. Embodying the uncaring traits of the 'wooden people', beings that were washed away in Mayan mythology, Justin faces the Otherworld..."The Wooden Man" is "The Beach" of our times. From urban London to Mexican mountains and jungle, it follows one man's journey into the world of the Maya, where one life ends and another begins. "The Mayan temples of Palenque are seen as if they were a dead culture...people come to see ruins, and what they find is living people who walk, talk, and above all, shout." - Subcomandante Marcos.