A Vida dos Leopardos

I am writing this review to hopefully give some appreciation to everyone involved in this project. It was a great honour to get a glimpse of leopards' lives.

Following this family was fascinating experience. I wished it could be a longer, or at least 2 part series given the crew spend months following this family.

The quality of the footage really surprised me, lovely narration with sentimental notes. The combination give a feeling of being a part of something special. Breath-taking African sunsets.

Now I wonder how the cubs are doing out there on their own. If they started their family, if they ever met again.

As "Living With Leopards" (2024 release from the UK; 71 min.) opens, we are in the "Okavango Delta, Botswana", and Brad is following and filming a female leopard named Mothuma. The leopard freefalls from 40 feet high into a tree onto an unsuspecting prey. Why would she take such a risk? Soon we understand as she has 2 cubs to feed and protect, "unknown to the world for the initial 3 months". At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from award nominated British director Alex Parkinson ("Last Breath"). Here, he brings the tale of a group of photographers in Botswana who are following the trace of one leopard family. They spend wees, months, years to capture the incredible footage that this documentary contains (it was filmed over a period of 2 1/2 years). And when I say "incredible footage", I mean this documentary brings to the screen various scenes that I never imagined could be caught on tape. Then again, think of it this way: it took the film makers 30 months to capture this on tape, and we are seeing this distilled into 71 minutes... Kudos also the the top-notch original score for this documentary.

"Living With Leopards" recently started streaming on Netflix, and I caught it last night. So glad I did. If you are in the mood for a top quality nature documentary, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

The jazzy funky music destroys the beautiful filming, and the cameramen miss the best parts of the action every time. Something big is happening and it suddenly cuts to the aftermath. In particular, when the adult Leopard males engage in a fight. They film them engaging with each other, then completely lose them when they fight and cut to them just being wounded afterwards. They also miss the cheetah chasing the young male. 2 major points of the narrative completely missed by the cameramen. This shows how unprepared the film crew are. Shame, because it's generally filmed well when slow moments are occurring. The main issue for me, however, is the shocking choice of music which distracts you from the narrative and beauty. Whoever signed off on the funky pop music should be embarrassed. It would have been so much better if the music was more ethereal and intense. I just found myself getting frustrated by it.

An exceptional film, truly shows the beauty that lies within the natural world. I loved how the film makers were able to intertwine their own personal lives with the lives of the leopards. Going into account of what it really takes to produce such a film. The long hours and patience along with the respect for the animals all together. I could truly feel their individual passion and love for nature. Making this more than just a documentary giving knowledge on a specific animal. Showing us how we ourselves are nature and can learn so much about life and what we've lost through appreciating this lovely gift that god has given but something that we often take for granted. Thank you for producing and sharing this lovely knowledge with us that many will never be able to witness theirselves!

This is an exceptional documentary. I had to pause it if I had to leave the room because I didn't want to miss a moment of it. The story surrounding the leopards was intriguing. To form your work into a family of growth and adventure of the leopards is what makes it so interesting. You show how we can relate our own lives with the lives of a leopard upbringing and family. Also, you absolutely know how to capture the beauty of the environment. I wanted to be there with you watching and filming these animals. Please continue your work with documenting animals and creating the stories to coincide. I look forward to see it! I hope you guys win awards for this piece. Well deserved.