Duma

"Duma" comes along to show us it is possible to create a work of art that combines compassion, intelligence, creativity, and insight. I'm a bit hesitant to even mind some of the comments made by a few people about this film. It is NOT about the people of the country, or a particular point of view. It is supposed to be about a boy and his closest relationship to another living thing on this planet. It is an adventure that doesn't rely on cheap special effects and far fetched ideas that no one but a movie executive find any connection to. It is not about throwing a gimmick in front of our faces and failing to deliver. "Duma" just opens a window to a world that is slowly dying in front of us.

After seeing the film, I couldn't stop thinking about the marvelous nature of the cheetah, as a creature, a friend, another member of this world's wonders. As the film unfolds, we witness other marvels along the way, as our young protagonist finds ways to solve several quests in the story. There were a few instances where I had to catch my breath for the sheer magic displayed on the screen: the vistas, the expressions, the lyrical beauty which was composed by the various parts. It was a universal experience that can reach and touch both adults and children. The best part is that we went back to the primal essence of cinema, the ability to conjure or transports us to the magic that exists in our own world.

"Duma" stands for the soul in us, a part of our world that keeps us going and refuses to let go. An artist, like Mr. Ballard can create this type of entertainment, the kind that allows us to reflect on what is important, leads us to think and to care about where we're going, and what the rewards and consequences might be. This is an important film that, in typical fashion, is being neglected by the moguls of entertainment. Catch it in the big screen to get its full impact, relish it, and pass the word around. Here is a film that earns the title of a classic right away.

"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

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.

Being used to today's explosion-filled, fast-paced movies being churned out on a weekly basis for the sake of selling tickets, Duma is what I'd like to say a slap in the face for all of us who get excited over the mediocrity that has brought out "The Interpreter," "Stealth," and what else is playing now...? A movie that I would definitely recommend for an entire family to watch together, there's nothing in here that would make you want to cover your kids' eyes or ears up at anytime. Instead you'd want for them, and for yourself, to sit up and pay attention to this smooth, smart movie.

Don't wait for any explosions. There is a story being told in this movie, and its being told with a fresh touch of poetry which I haven't seen in a long time.

I gave this movie an 8/10 because of one reason: Although the movie is set in Africa, its really hard to tell until halfway through the movie. In fact, the place looked whiter than Little Rock, Arkansas! But it got an 8/10 because of the story, the storytelling, and the smooth pace at which the movie flows.

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.