Running Wild

John Varty, a British wildlife conservationist living in Africa, co-produced, co-wrote and acted himself in this independent production of a conservation yarn shot in Africa and co-starring Brooke Shields. This was made in 1994, that is a few years before Shields' career would bounce back with TV stardom in the Suddenly Susan series and hence at a time when she was a largely forgotten ex-star.

The movie is watchable if approached with low expectations. The basic premise of the story is very promising (a young female filmmaker making a documentary about a conservationist raising two orphaned leopard cubs) and yet it has been scripted in a very incompetent manner, with lame dialog, not-fleshed out plot developments, etc. The acting is also high school performance level, unfortunately especially in Shields' case, but you may never know if it is because of the incompetent script or of any inherent incompetence of Shields. Yet, real wildlife scenes with the cubs are outstanding and make the movie worth a view.

Is Shields attractive in this movie? There is no intentional glamorization of her appearance here and I don't really like her bleached hair color at all. Yet, it is Brooke Shields in her late late 20s after all and you know what I mean. Plus, it is a nice bonus to see her intermingling with leopard cubs. By the way, Shields was no stranger to Africa, having ventured to a safari in Kenya for the TV series Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous in 1984.

This film's strong point is its wildlife photography. With actual footage of the true events it's loosely based on, it has a very authentic feel. However, the story itself and its themes left me somewhat unsatisfied.

Not as entertaining as, say, "Free Willy" and not as powerful as "Gorillas in the Mist", this movie missed some great opportunities to be more than it is. Only in the last 5 minutes do we get a glimpse of Varty's philosophical thoughts on conservationism. I really enjoyed that part, and if Varty is to do another film I would hope he includes a lot more of it. But most of the movie consists of nice leopard footage without much deeper commentary.

The story itself doesn't really focus on the global problems of conservation but instead focuses on the specific efforts to save 2 cubs, and without much drama in that respect, that's why the film loses strength. There are 2 villains in the movie: 1) a sleazy corporate suit who is trying to destroy the film project; and 2) a corrupt game warden who's trying to spoil Varty's plans to rehabilitate the cubs. Neither of these antagonists really relates to the global problem, thereby making the story a bit mundane. Like I said, only at the end does Varty offer some deep thoughts.

Another missed opportunity is that the movie fails to address the theme of interfering with nature (here in a productive way) which the DVD description led me to expect. A wildlife documentarian is supposed to be truly objective, not interfering in any of the scenes no matter how disturbing they may be. Varty crosses the line, which I found very interesting. But the film doesn't really address that. Crikey, that theme could've been powerful enough to carry the whole film.

So in the end we get a lot of pretty footage but not much else. Oh one more warning: leopards are predators of course, so while they look extremely fuzzy & cute, they do kill their food. I don't recall much footage of actual kills, mostly just bloody wildebeest carcasses afterwards, but either way it kinda kills the "awww" feeling.

I'm glad this film is out there because there aren't many conservation films in the world, and even worse, many of them make conservationists look like maladjusted freakshows (like Herzog's "Grizzly Man"). But I would sooner recommend "Gorillas in the Mist" or, for kids, "Sandy the Seal". Another film that comes to mind is the Vietnamese movie "Buffalo Boy" which is more about human nature than animals, but the story is about a guy who leads a pair of caribous for days in search of food & water. Great photography there.

This wasn't much of a story and Martin Sheen did probably the worst job of acting I've ever seen him do, but it doesn't really matter because the essence of the movie is the wildlife photography.

John Varty, a British conservationist living in Africa, plays himself in this story of him raising two baby leopards and finding a home for them. Brooke Shields is an American writer looking to write about a story about it. She's just in the movie to show her pretty face and say, "Aww, aren't they cute?" That's about all she does, which gets a little annoying after awhile.

Some of the photography is spectacular, with beautiful scenery and a disturbing scene or two (i.e. a crocodile trying to eat a water buffalo.) The language is very mild, with only three swear words, probably put in to get a "PG" rating.

Excellent animal adventure film in the tradition of Born Free and Living Free about an African conservationist who lives in a tree house and follows a family of Leopards for 12 years, and a Los Angeles filmographer who seeks to make his story known.

As far as plots go, this film has little, a woman who works for an American mega-media corporation travels to Africa to meet a bloke who lives in a tree along with his faithful native assistant. The two men have spent the last twelve years following a female leopard and her many broods. The plan is for our intrepid city slick to make a film about this valiant creature. Alas, she is already living on borrowed time, and just as the project is commissioned, the lions catch up with her. What now?

The two cubs from her latest brood have survived, but won't for much longer unless they are rescued by nature boy and his sidekick. They are, now the cubs are pursued by predators on two legs who want to flog them to a zoo.

Those who remember that Nature is red in tooth and claw will surely not sentimentalise over the fate of these cute but rapidly growing carnivores. Where the film does score is the stunning footage of wildlife, most of which does not appear to be from the archive.