Duma

Duma - A story about an orphaned Cheetah and a boy who rediscovers his life after an unfortunate tragedy - A journey that ends with a new beginning.

I often watch films made in America and by American directors that depict African scenes in their movies, and they can never truly portray the African way of life.

Carroll Ballard is one of the first to successfully portray this properly - well, almost :-) He still used the word "Gas" instead of the word "Petrol". Us South Africans never say gas. He also changed the geography of the journey quite dramatically, and at times Xan jumped miraculously 500 km from the East of Botswana to the west of South Africa, and suddenly 5 min later, he jumped 500 km north to the Central North West of Botswana (The Okavango Delta).

But please don't think I am bad mouthing the movie. Everyone is allowed the use of poetic license, and the way that Carroll Ballard did this showcased some of the most beautiful places in Southern Africa, and the world, including Augrabies Falls in South Africa, Sowa Pan and Kubu Island (Part of the largest salt pans in the world, the Magadigadi Pans), the Okavango Delta and many more...

The story is blissfully simple, allowing young children to enjoy this film without asking questions, as well as allowing adults to marvel at the scenes being shown to them.

The photography as far as the filming of the cheetahs goes as well as the African wilderness, was magnificent, as well as the sound effects...they were not artificial, unlike many of the other films made today, which use completely unnatural sound effects for the animals.

A must see for anyone who appreciates a good, heartwarming story, the African wilderness and good, honest, down to earth film making 9/10

I have no idea why this movie got such a small-scale cinema release. It certainly can't have anything to do with the quality of the film. I was surprised by Duma, because it's an extremely well-directed film which treats its audience with far more respect and intelligence than a lot of so-called "family" fare available. Also, as opposed to many films with animal protagonists, Duma doesn't treat them as objects of half-witted hokey slapstick fun, but instead makes the entire friendship between human and animal seem extremely touching and authentic.

In a way there is something almost Miyazaki -esque about this movie, in that it draws you into the narrative not with half-baked nudge nudge wink wink references which only adults will understand, but through its intelligence and excellent sense of drama alone; not to mention the great performances by Eamonn Walker and Alexander Michaeletos - two names to look out for in the future if their performances here are anything to go by. At any rate, Duma is one of the few cases where the possibly over-used moniker "A film for all ages" definitely applies. Recommended if you can find it.

I feel fortunate that Warner Brothers has chosen to screen "Duma" here in the Chicago area. I only hope they decide to support a nationwide release because this is a movie that deserves to be seen. I found myself crying several times at the touching story, and also heard my own laughter echoed by others in the theater during the humorous moments.

I found out about "Duma" while I was researching a book I'm currently reading. It's called "The Spotted Sphinx" and is by Joy Adamson - the same woman who wrote "Born Free". During the filming of the movie based on the book "Born Free", Joy was given a young female cheetah and was asked if she could rehabilitate it back into the wild. "The Spotted Sphinx" and its follow-up, "Pippa's Challenge" are about that rehabilitation process. "Duma" is about a similar situation, except it is about a young boy and how he also finds himself while helping his pet cheetah find "home" again. The boy who portrays "Xan" is excellent in the role and you can really feel the love he has for his animal. The cinematography is beautiful, and I was very pleased with how true-to-life they were with how cheetahs interact with people. Cheetahs can be tamed (for the most part) and are very affectionate - something that was shown in the film.

I went to a matinée showing, fully expecting to be one of only a few in the theater, but was pleasantly surprised to find it almost full. There were more adults than children, so that just shows that the limited press "Duma" received was enough to make others want to see this film while they had the chance. I'm an adult, and have no children, but love films that show the beauty of nature and positive interactions with animals. This would be a great film to bring kids to, particularly boys since Xan had such an amazing coming of age adventure.

By the way, the music is excellent too. I really hope they end up releasing this on DVD.

This movie is so good, I wonder why it is in such limited release? At least in Wales, it only plays for two showings each weekend. Anyway--- I like animal movies, generally. Even those that stray into a bit of the fantasy, such as 'Bingo', and 'Two Brothers', can be enjoyable and charming.

'Duma' was delightful. I have not read about the making of the movie, but they did use real cheetahs. Some kittens, adolescents, and maybe adults, too. I found the representations of the human-cheetah relationship entirely believable. And even though this is a 'family' movie, and suitable for 12 year-olds, it was also solid enough to get an adult through it as well. The peril is plausible, the characters' motivations and behaviors seem reasonable.

Overall, the movie worked well enough as a movie--- entertaining, dramatic, etc. But more, and the reason I gave it a 10 out of 10, is the movie also seemed to portray the charm, grace, and dignity of a truly great relationship a human can have with an animal. That, placed in the movie-world context of family drama and human enterprise, is a wonderful and magical thing.

"Nature breaks through the eyes of the cat." Irish proverb

With the emergence of digitized everything, photography of the actual thing is now the amazement. Splendid is everything visualized in Duma, the story of a young South African boy, Xan (Alex Michaeletos) who brings up an orphaned cheetah, Duma, to the day when his father (Campbell Scott) decides it is perilously close to the time when Duma couldn't survive in the wild.

And so, about the time they are to return Duma to his world, Xan becomes a sort of orphan himself because dad dies and leaves Xan and his mother with a big ranch to tend. As predictable as the right of passage story that ensues with Xan taking Duma back, there is a freshness of simplicity and beauty, joy and sorrow that overwhelms the clichés and makes you eager to go back to animal stories of early film, like Old Yeller, where the pets are as human than their masters and make real the abstract idea of Nature.

An unusual care for lens and animal is palpable from director Carroll Ballard and cinematographer Werner Meritz, unforgettable even. The four cheetahs used for Duma are as often lensed close up as they are in long shots, beautifully stretching their sixty-mile –an-hour legs.

With the consistency director Carroll Ballard showed in the acclaimed Fly Away Home, he weaves the theme of abandonment and reconciliation into every major scene: Even the enigmatic intruder Rip (Eamon Walker) has exiled himself from his tribe and is now returning home, cruising the river with Xan like Huck and Jim. That eventually animals and humans must take up their responsibilities is also present almost from the first frame.

Nothing new here, just a good old-fashioned pet tale, which never is boring for me, a perpetual boy with an English major's tendency to see poetry in a landscape or a cheetah's eye.

"Nature never did betray the heart that loved her." Wordsworth