This is a symphony of darkness that plays out like a Greek tragedy. There is no comeuppance tho, only a final confrontation which feels as unavoidable as it is unpredictable
"... there is no violation here
no malice
just a set of ancient responses"
JB Arthur's classical score is a little too standard classical when it's just passing time. When it speaks directly to the story it's scary, tearful, lovely, everything you want it to be
This film began the collaboration between Dereck Joubert and Jeremy Irons that exists to this day. Dereck is a squishy poet who's lived in a tent amongst the wildlife of the Botswana swamplands for thirty years. Jeremy is Jeremy. A pro. A match made in heaven
Big Cat docs are all about the dry season vs the wet season. During the former, prey comes to predator. In the latter, things get scattered. Everything comes down to where the water is
"Africa comes at you from both sides
it is a golden ray of light and a dark
sloping shadow
it has the power to abandon pretenses
and the humor
to play with your body"
In this story a group of lions break off from the main pride and become nomads. It starts in standard fashion when the dominant males exile the maturing boys. Lucky those boys that some of the girls go with them. The girls are the hunters and can use their feminine wiles should they stumble into territory owned by macho men
One morning a nomad lioness wakes up and notices some giant footprints in the parched and dusty mud:
"the tracks of which gods are those walking beside me
are they from the fire or the flood
are they the ones who wait for me
and is this my map of blood
is this my destiny"
Make of that what you will. The majority of the narration is of that ilk. Sometimes silly, sometimes insightful: standard poetry. Nothing else like it in the world of Big Cat docs
Sadly, this was filmed before the Joubert's cameras were up to HD snuff, and before thermal imaging or infrared cameras were available to them. But Dereck makes the best of it in two ways:
First, he doesn't make this a highlight reel of well lit HD captures of kills and dining. He brings us into the middle of the chaos, where real life is blurry. It's freaky how he gets some of the shots he gets. It's immersive, and works
Second, Dereck is primarily an Art Film Director. Since this was shot back in the "night" when film makers had to shine a work lamp on their targets that was bright enough to illuminate the animals but not bright enough to disturb or distract them, it works to Dereck's strength of using shadows and reflections, silhouettes and flares, shapes and closeups
Most of it is shot at night, dusk or dawn. So ... grey elephants and dirty cats playing in the mud. Not a healthy color palette. It's where the classical score, the wannabe poetry, and the blur of real life collide to form this Symphony of Darkness. There is nothing like it in the world of Big Cat Documentaries
"when you meet me again
maybe you'll remember
that your wild eye
when open
travels inward"
