Review of To Walk With Lions

Introduction

30 years on from the Oscar-winning "Born Free", we return to the real-life story of Kenyan game warden George Adamson (Richard Harris).

For those expecting Born Free 2, you may be bitterly disappointed...

Video

We are presented with a fullscreen image, which is a shame as the film was shot in 2.35:1 letterbox ratio, and a lot of the scale is therefore lost. The quality of the picture is fine with good detail and colouration. There are no problems with artifacting or other compression errors.

Audio

The 2.0 sound mix is quite an atmospheric affair, with the sounds of the Kenyan game reserve filling the speakers with eerie noises.

Features

Although the disc might not seem to offer many extra features, there is in fact quite a bit of background information if you look for it. The production notes are detailed, and the cast and crew biographies also yield interview comments from the actual shoot.

Conclusion

George Adamson was a legendary conservationist who ran a lion rehabilitation program in Kenya -- nursing wounded ones back to health, raising orphaned cubs, then releasing the big cats back into the wild. He and his estranged wife, Joy, were best known for having written the book Born Free (later made into a movie), charting their efforts to see one particular lioness, Elsa, reintegrated into her natural habitat. In his old age, threatened on all sides by poachers, bandits and governmental unrest, Adamson took on yet another challenge: a wastrel Englishman named Tony Fitzjohn, who eventually ended up adopting his mentor`s cause and creating a huge new sanctuary in the neighbouring state of Tanzania.

Their story is a complex and passionate one that raises many interesting questions about environmentalism vs. egotism, guardianship vs. ownership, animal instincts vs. human hubris, the lingering spectacle of white colonialism vs. the indigenous Africans` struggle for economic self-definition. The story deserves a much better exploration than Carl Schultz`s To Walk With Lions, possibly the lamest excuse for a film I`ve seen in years.

Grand old man Richard Harris phones in a truly excruciating performance as Adamson, all pose and no substance, pretentious to the nth degree. The fact that he`s the main character keeps the audience on constant deathwatch, certain his demise will signal a blessed release from this torture. And sure, the scenery`s magnificent, but so what? It only serves to make Harris` skewed and dreadful attempts at basic human interaction all the more grotesque by comparison.

Add in an awful, cliché-ridden script, torpid characterization, bad acting of every possible complexion (Australian actress Kerry Fox, as Fitzjohn`s girlfriend, looks visibly bored) and some pretty dodgy political undercurrents, and you`ve got an experience best compared with having your brains pulled out through your nose. Except that watching this film actually hurts more -- because if you were getting an impromptu lobotomy, odds are you`d eventually... mercifully... lose consciousness.