Dir.
Jean-Jacques Annaud, 2004, 104 mins
Cast:
Guy Pearce, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Philippine LeRoy Beaulieu, Freddie Highmore
Anthromorphisization - representing animals with human attributes and motivations - is almost a pre-requisite for their appearance on the big screen.
There are a couple of exceptions to the rule, mostly of a class of film rarely made anymore (Ring of Bright Water, Tarka the Otter) which reproduce animals' lives so naturalistically that they're more like documentaries.
Annaud's family-friendly drama falls into the former category - a genre which relies on big-eyed, orphaned animals overcoming peril to be reunited with their families, en route battling hunters, developers, and forest fire.
Sangha and Kumal, two tiger cubs, enjoy secluded lives with their parents deep within the Southeast Asian jungle. When their home is invaded by Aidan McRory, a stiff-lipped British adventurer, (Guy Pearce, LA Confidential) paradise is lost.
McRory is forced to kill the Great Tiger, thus setting the two cubs on the path to captivity. Kumal is rescued by McRory, but nonetheless ends up in the circus. Sangha eventually becomes a pet to 8-year-old Raoul, but rather like pet alligators in LA, even the smallest tiger cub doesn't domesticate well. When Sangha savages Raoul's pet dog, he is sent to the royal menagerie.
Kumal's spirit is gradually broken down by his heavy-handed circus trainer. He's billed as a wild man-eater, but away from the crowds he's a lacklustre, pathetic creature. In the menagerie, Sangha turns ferocious and uncontrollably wild.
Through a twist of fate some time later, the two brothers are finally reunited - but it's as gladiators expected by a baying crowd to fight each other to the death. Just in time, Kumal and Sangha remember the times they spent gambling and frolicking in the jungle and escape and go on the run together, closely pursued by those convinced that the tigers will become man-eaters. Do they have a chance of evading the most blood-thirsty predator on the planet - man?
"I am surprised that most humans feel so superior [to animals] that they rule out any intelligence, memory and emotions in other species," says Annaud. "People who live closely with dogs or cats cannot fail to acknowledge these abilities. I don't believe that it is being anthromorphic, but in fact, having a greater understanding of the depths of animal intelligence."
His explanation seems more like an excuse given there's shameless humanisation in the telling of this tale. Of course animals have the same desires for food, comfort, even love and affection. To an extent, the clever realisation of the script shows those desires in a human way in order to connect with its young audience.
On the other hand, this does mean that, despite the educational element - of the threat to this magnificent but endangered species - the tigers are never really shown as anything more than cuddly, harmless toys. They're never shown as truly wild, hunting or being aggressive (in fact they're only ever shown eating cooked meats). And that leaves a feeling of untruthfulness about Annaud's film.
Despite that this is a fine and entertaining film for both kids and adults. The settings are breathtaking (the crumbling temple ruins like a backdrop to Tombraider) and the cinematography shows the true beauty of the tigers and their landscapes.
Still, while the film does a lot to show the bleak truth about Man's destruction of the natural world and those that live in it, (human cultures as well as animal species) it's a shame that it is itself so exploitative of its animal stars in only relating their stories in human terms.
The dumbing down of the subject matter may not matter to its young audience, but older viewers may feel the environmental pill has been a little too sugar coated.
Ruth Bushi
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