The Lion at World's End

This movie is a companion to the 1972 book 'A Lion Called Christian' by Anthony Bourke and John Rendall. Note that the authors are also listed as "stars" of the film. The film is a documentary produced to finance the project of sending Christian from London to the wilds of east Africa. With the exception of the dramatized opening scene of Christian being introduced to Bill Travers, it was filmed as it happened and its simple, honest style is very effective.

Writing as one who is interested in lions and in human/animal interactions, the film is a joy to behold in spite of (or more likely because of) its lack of sophisticated production values. Everything is real, and there is much to observe.

George Adamson features prominently in the latter portion of the movie. Adamson is the real person Travers portrayed in the movie Born Free, and his interaction with many lions during the course of the project is simply amazing.

Christian himself is a most amazing fellow and the reason this film is more than just another documentary. I came away from it feeling that it was actually a shame that Christian had been sent away from the city to be "rehabilitated" to live in the wild. In these times, when the world needs more and better contact between humans and animals, Christian would have been a perfect ambassador of goodwill. Watch him carefully. Notice the love and intelligence behind his actions.

This "little" film has a great deal of lasting value. Perhaps Christian can still be that ambassador in some small way... if anyone gets a chance to see this film.

I think many viewers who watch this documentary today will be a lot more sophisticated than viewers who first saw this back in the 1970s. They will see that some scenes in the movie are staged or heavily manipulated. Also, viewers who are largely or completely unfamiliar with real life figure George Adamson or the movie "Born Free" will be bewildered by some parts of the movie. Speaking of Adamson, the movie disappoints by only giving him one (brief) moment in the movie where he gets to tell viewers from his own perspective.

Despite these and other problems, the documentary is compelling. Although leisurely paced, the movie never gets to the point of being boring. The process of returning lions to the wild is well illustrated, showing it's long and hard work. More importantly, the documentary manages to convince the audience that animals like Christian the lion are animals that belong in the wild, and should not be domesticated. I also liked that the movie doesn't sugar coat things, revealing several tragedies that happened during filming. Younger children might be upset or confused by those passages, so if your child is somewhat sensitive, you may want to watch it with your child.