Brothers in Blood: The Lions of Sabi Sand

I've watched many wildlife documentaries over the years, and this one really stands out. The film does a great job of capturing the brutality and savagery that wild lions must contend with in their struggle to survive. The video presentation is very good, with most scenes in high resolution, along with a few scenes from lower resolution sources. The audio is good - the only issue I noted was difficulty understanding dialogue spoken by some of the cast members who had heavy South African accents. Subtitles would have helped with that issue. All in all, I would highly recommend this film to those who enjoy a good nature documentary, but be warned - there are very graphic scenes of violent predatory behavior that can be difficult to watch for the faint of heart.

I loved it but the only thing I didn't like is they use a lot of unreal scenes or scenes which has been taken from other documentaries.

This is the real deal... Graphic and unabated. You see the beauty, travesty, injustice and cycle of life as seen through this brotherhood of Lions over almost 20 years. Have the tissues nearby as some scenes will move you as did me. Am still affected by what I had seen. Yet this is what really happens our there - not through rose tinted specs It's amazing how these beasts can be so firm and gentle at the same time. Without words, they let their opinion be known, and surprisingly, democracy is evident in their decisions. For example if there is a territory dispute, the king and his warriors assemble to show solidarity, and set forth to sort out the issue using ancient communication methods. Should the initial greeting sounds fail to establish an amicable situation, they murder each other.

If there weren't cutaways of the filmers sitting in a room talking about themselves and the rangers reactions, I would rate this a 10. People don't watch Lion documentaries to see the filmers on cam or to see the jeeps. Yes we get it, you and the rangers were sad to see cubs dying and 1 of the lions in the coalition getting killed. You can add that in to a separate behind-the-scenes or commentary track but not in the main documentary. If this was re-edited only showing voiceovers and no jeeps, I would give this a perfect 10.

In spite of those big flaws, this is still the best Lion documentary out. A solid 8/10 from me.

This was shot over the period of 16 years, following the Mapogo lions and is interesting as a concept. It is interesting to follow the story of the lions at some pivotal points, but I feel as though it was a documentary that was pieced together by many different people and sources, therefore it lacked the cohesion of a well-produced documentary.