With so many outstanding nature shows on cable TV, you might wonder if the genre can still attract a theatrical audience. Then along comes a film like "The Last Lions" and you're reminded that excellence thrives on the big-screen experience.
Filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert have been specializing in "big cat" documentaries for most of their 30-year careers, most recently as explorers-in-residence for National Geographic. "The Last Lions" fully displays the culmination of their experience.
No matter how you feel about real-life drama being shaped and enhanced in the editing room, this is wildlife storytelling at its formidable finest.
I use the word "storytelling" simply because the one-year drama of "The Last Lions" was culled from hundreds of hours of footage gathered over six years and perfected through two years of editing. That's the only way a film like this can exist — as the product of seemingly limitless patience, tenacity, technical skill and a fair amount of gentle manipulation.
The Jouberts (Dereck serving as writer-director-cinematographer, Beverly as co-producer) expertly tell the dramatic story of Ma di Tau, an elegant lioness recently widowed and raising three cubs on the lush wetlands of Duba Plains in Botswana.
Under constant threat from hungry predators, Ma di Tau faces conflicting imperatives: protect her cubs or leave them vulnerable while she hunts buffalo to ensure their survival. The stage is set for "Africa's eternal story" to unfold.
Through it all, Dereck Joubert's cinematography is never less than stunning.
"The Last Lions" is one of the best films of its kind, and the title serves as a warning call for conservation: The lion population of Duba Plains has dwindled from 450,000 to 20,000 in just 50 years.
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment