General Discussion

joeybee12

(56,177 posts) Tue Nov 26, 2013, 02:11 PM Nov 2013

Lion Ark: A Well-Told Tale of A Daring Big Cat Rescue Operation

Lion Ark is a film about a daring rescue operation that liberated 25 lions from bondage. But not, to use another Biblical analogy, from “way down in Egypt land” – rather, from circuses in Bolivia. This engrossing documentary combines elements of Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust drama Schindler’s List, the 1966 lion movie Born Free, and the recently released nonfiction film about marine mammals in captivity, Blackfish.

This well-made advocacy doc, that recently won the Audience Choice Award in the documentary category at the San Diego Film Festival, has an “as-it-happens” feel and unfolds like a tension-filled drama. Lion Ark features members of Animal Defenders International, an animal rights organization. who go undercover to expose the poor living conditions and violence allegedly inflicted upon lions and other animals at Bolivian circuses. There is some harrowing footage of animals being abused that appears to be shot clandestinely and that many viewers may find hard to watch. (These behind-the-scenes exposé shots are hallmarks of ADI campaigns against the use of animals in entertainment and laboratory experiments.) The film also has some picturesque cinematography of natural scenery and wildlife.

Thanks to ADI’s “Stop Circus Suffering” initiative in South America, the Bolivian government (under the progressive rule of President Evo Morales, who, for some reason, is never mentioned onscreen) has banned the use of wild animals in circuses. However, when the new law to protect these mammals goes unenforced, the Defenders take direct action. The film follows the activists who, acting in league with government officials, begin tracking down the seven or so circuses scattered around Bolivia and stage a series of nationwide roundups of 25 captive lions.