To Walk with Lions

When my mother died, her rabbi was on vacation, so we got the pickup rabbi at the funeral, one of those creatures out of a ridiculous story. He mispronounced her English name, got her Hebrew name wrong, and spoke in platitudes about someone none of us recognized. He called upon the people gathered to speak, and while the family sat in shock, her neighbor got up, advanced to the podium, and drily said "That's not the Horty Lipton I knew." And she told some stories about my mother that were not entirely complimentary, and we all relaxed, because she was telling the truth.

Remember BORN FREE? It turns out that te Adamsons (played here by Richard Harris and Honor Blackman) were a lot crankier than portrayed in that movie. Here we witness the final days of George Adamson, as he struggles with poachers and indifference, to keep his wildlife sanctuary going, through the eyes of Tony Fitzjohn, played here by John Michie. There are also a lot of lions.

I don't know how accurate this movie, co-written by Fittzjohn is. People are complex, and memories ar.... well, not imperfect, but too story-like to sum up reality. But I believe that this movie is about the George Adamson that Fitzjohn knew.

I enjoyed this film very much. My granddaughter who is 12 couldn't get through it. Because it is about George Adamson, of Born Free fame, you may be tempted to get this as a movie for the family to watch together. It's real appeal is to those of us past a certain age where we begin to think about the end of life as much as about the beginning. Richard Harris is incredible in this film as a man who refuses to let the changes time has wrought on his part of Africa or his body make him compromise any of his principles. This film will make you believe he has a spiritual connection to the lions, that lions are closer to humans than we'd like to admit. George Adamson is a much more interesting character in this movie than in the Born Free movies. The photography of Africa is spectacular, the scenes of poaching heartbreaking. This is a grown up movie about grown up issues, but it is not an unrelenting downer. It will probably inspire you to do something a little more important with the time you have left.

Richard Harris is amazing as George Adamson, an old man obsessed with returning captive lions to the wild in spite of poachers, politics and his own personal demons. Based on the life of George Adamson, Joy "Born Free" Adamson's husband, the movie has a flock of really great characters wonderfully played by all sorts of semi-stars (Ian Bannen, Geraldine Chaplin, etc.). I'd see it again.

This is a great film, but it is badly let down by poor directing and a very stilted performance by John Michie. Richard Harris plays George Adamson to absolute perfection and Ian Bannen is equally marvellous as his brother Terence, but John Michie is just too suave to be convincing. Its also distractingly jerky in parts almost as if the director couldn't decide if this was to be a film about George Adamson or about Tony Fitzjohn or a film that explored their relationship. Perhaps he had hoped it would do all three, but instead it just highlights the difference between a great actor at the height of his powers and someone who looks good in shorts, wastes the talents of Honor Blackman and gets a PG-13 certificate when it could have had equally as much impact and a greater potential audience as a G with very little effort.

This film I thought was very entertaining and well worth watching if you like Africa, animals, stunning scenery, or Richard Harris. It'story follows 2 old men as they live in the outbacks of Africa whilst teaching a young man something (CAN'T REMEMBER). One of the men is in love with lions and the other elephants and they try to defend them from poachers. The ending is shockingly violent and tragic but overall the film is an enjoyable experience.

I highly recommend this film. Such a shame Richard can't do any more films like this...

peace out