Trophy

Hands down, one of the best openings of any documentary I have ever seen! I won't spoil it for you, experience it yourself. No matter how you feel about hunting, this movie drags you in from the first second on and will not let your eyes allow to blink just once.

Before seeing that movie, I was disgusted by people, who kill animals for fun. I was asking myself why do they do it, why do people let them do it and so on. I must admit, this is only half of the story. My opinion on hunters is still the same, so this doc didn't changed my view on hunters, but on hunting, especially the "big ones" that you can find in the press so often.

This movie is not an easy one to watch, especially if you love animals, but believe me, its totally worth it! You will meet people with different views and stories and will follow their life for a good bit, trying to understand their motivations and getting a deeper look into the hunting industry. Ideally you can walk away from this movie with more knowledge and you will understand the dilemmas that this industry causes.

For me it was one of the best documentaries I have seen in a while and even if this doesn't look appealing to you from the trailer on, give the movie 10mins and you will be soaked in by the information, stories and cinematography.

2/22/18. There is just no way to justify the senseless slaughter of wildlife by saying quoting the Bible and saying man has dominion over Earth. Please! Really? And, talking about crocodile tears shed by the hunter who just had to kill that one-of-a-kind lion just for a trophy. I can understand if you hunt because you need to eat, but to just shoot animals for sport is heinous. It's just blood lust. And, then another one had the audacity to justify hunting as leaving Earth a better place. Really? How does slaughtering animals for sport leave this Earth a better place? Despite my dislike for such hunters I found this documentary to be worth watching.

Big game hunting will go the way of smoking. Hopefully any form of hunting where a rifle is used 'to give an animal a fighting chance', will also stop. As a sport it's time has passed. This documentary is good in that it allows for the differing points of view to be expressed. I am a Christian and I understand when the hunter, who shoots the elephant and the lion at the end, quotes the reference to the Bible that states man has dominion over the animals ... but screw such Christians ... I'm glad I get sick and tired of listening to this statement in reference to a blood sport ... that screwball is crying at the end as he crouches by the lion he has just killed; psychopathic tendencies requiring emotional release through killing a living creature ... dominion over animals in this situation is a lie and shameful that he believes it. I'm an Aussie so I watch with some interest the fat, emotionally backward hunting fraternity foam at the mouth about their next kill ... most of the portrayals are about American hunters ... what's wrong with them and their love of guns, killing animals that are innocently grazing? They are ugly. In Australia we do just fine with a highly restrictive access to gun culture. In Yankeedoodledandy land they have the 2nd Amendment which inevitably is quoted endlessly as a right ... just straight out psychopathy. During the production the hunter lamely accuses the protesters against said blood sport of eating chickens that someone else has slaughtered for them ... of course this is going to be quoted. It always is. However it doesn't change anything about the unfolding attitude towards killing wild animals for sport and trophies. What's wrong with the mentality of people who love weapons, love killing and generally can't find any other way to express themselves? Is this the 18th Century? I can't help hate these hunters which leads me to hating all countries that engage in weapon worship and justify it with 'rights' and self defense manifestations and possibilities. It's disgraceful. The one thing I really liked is the tough guy with tattoos who was visibly unhappy with the dentist who shot Cecil the lion. Someone like him is going to attitude assist these dumb hunters, who stupidly allowed themselves to a part of this documentary and make themselves known ... how careless!

Directed by Shaul Schwarz ("Aida's Secrets") and Christina Clusiau who is also the cinematographer, Trophy is at riveting but often hard to watch documentary that examines the debate between hunters, breeders, farmers, and wildlife conservationists over species preservation, ultimately allowing the viewer to draw their own conclusion. The issue of trophy hunting became a leading news story in June 2015 when Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer killed a male lion named Cecil, a popular tourist attraction, outside Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, setting off worldwide protests. Though many argue for the banning of all trophy hunting, others contend that legal, regulated hunting can benefit conservation, support the local population, and stop the accelerating loss of species due to poaching.

The position of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is to support "legal, well-regulated sport hunting." For the hunter, killing an animal is a source of pride, a knowing that they are carrying on a tradition romanticized by Theodore Roosevelt and Ernest Hemingway. The goal for the hunter is killing as many of the "Big Five' - buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion, and rhino - as they can. The film shows, however, that there is no longer anything romantic about big game hunting. It has become a commercial enterprise where people pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for the right to kill the animal they buy at auction during yearly conventions. According to the film, the going rate for a 14-day, single elephant hunt is about $80,000.

One of the film's "good guys" is John Hume, who runs the Buffalo Dream Ranch in South Africa as a sanctuary for Rhinos. Home to 1,500 rhinos, Hume strives to breed two hundred new ones each year. Using a stun gun to tranquilize the animals and remove their horns without killing them, he claims that this action protects them from poachers who will kill them for their horns, which can bring in millions of dollars in some Asian markets. Unfortunately, however, he cannot legally sell the horns and complains bitterly about all the restrictions. Another of the film's main subjects is sheep rancher Philip Glass (no relation to the composer). For him, hunting has always been a part of his life.

He talks about his love for the animals he kills, saying that the bible tells him that man shall have dominion over the animals, a passage he claims gives him a license to kill without feeling guilty. One can only wonder at the thought process that equates loving an animal with putting a bullet through its head. Chris Moore leads a campaign against poaching in Zimbabwe, trying to protect elephants but we later find out that Moore works for hunters, earning fees that ostensibly support conservation efforts. The film maintains an "above the battle" approach but occasionally reveals its point of view. One woman says that she does not mind killing crocodiles for handbags because they are so mean.

We see a different view of the menacing animals later in the film, however, when the camera zooms in the eye of a crocodile bound for transport that says all we need to know about the importance of handbags. If we learn one thing from Trophy, however, it is that hunting is a thorny and complex issue which does not lend itself to simple solutions. Even someone whose job it is to protect the wildlife knows that there are times when he has to kill an animal to protect the local people from predators or simply because there is a need for food. His feeling, unlike the exhilaration of the hunter, however, is one of sadness and remorse. In one scene we see lions attack and kill a family's livestock, an act that prompts the family to move its last cow into their home and also puts their own lives in danger.

In spite of the moral ambiguity the film reveals, the fact is that wildlife populations in Africa are declining. Scientists believe that Africa may at one time have held as many as 20 million elephants; by 1979 only 1.3 million remained -- and a recent survey found that, in the seven years between 2007 and 2014, the numbers plummeted by at least thirty percent. Not only African elephants are threatened, but the population of rhinos and lions are steadily decreasing. The culprit is not any one group or way of life but a system that looks at animals as a commodity with a price tag, not as sentient beings whose life is sacred. In that regard, we can thank Schwarz and Clusiau for allowing us to look at the options that are available to preserving these species before they exist only in historical photos we will one day show our grandchildren.

Is killing an essential ingredient in conservation? Big game hunters argue that the hunting industry provides the largest refuge for endangered species. Paradoxical and controversial, this notion has birthed an African goldmine: Zoos with a twist, murder vacations with live souvenirs.

A pricey gift shop of blood thirst, hunting resorts offer a controlled and abbreviated experience of inter-species domination. Some defend the slaughter party with an ancient book, others with a love for the very animals they auction off to North American bullets.

Outside of these death camps, lay sanctuaries that bleed money rather than bathe in it. They too are sitting on a goldmine, however. Their goods just are not as easy to push. The resorts believe selective killing will ensure a species' survival, while the sanctuaries engage in non-lethal harvesting of the majestic animals.

Both parties take in order to preserve. Whether lives or horns, these operations require revenue to fund sustainability. When these two pools of thought intersect, an ugly debate sparks, and the well- being of the animals gets pushed more and more to the periphery.

Hunting is becoming less and less a sport as the commercial appeal grows. But was the sport ever rational? Did it possess an ecological merit? The dangerous five have their nomenclature for good reason. Perhaps wildlife does require a sportsman's buffer to protect native's livelihoods.

Industry shapes legislature. A brutal reality that puts wild animals' futures in the balance. Humanity has ascribed themselves with the responsibility of protecting these beasts. A noble pursuit that has brought division and bickering. Humanity is most concerned with their own offspring, no matter how much it preaches conservation.