The ways in which the lives of humans and animals intertwine was carefully considered in a documentary directed my Lisa Leeman entitled One Lucky Elephant. The film follows the story of David Balding and his Elephant Flora as David tries to find the best home for the elephant he has raised as a daughter since she was brought to America as a calf. After raising Flora in the circus for 16 years, David begins to realize that she no longer enjoys acting and starts to question what really makes her happy. So begins his long journey to find an appropriate home for his “daughter.” After sending her back to Africa falls through, David begins looking in America for a zoo to take her in. Following a number of disappointing rejections and setbacks the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee agrees to take Flora in. Here, following violent outbursts from Flora, psychologists diagnose her with post-traumatic stress disorder due to her violent capture in Africa. Questions of whether or not David should be allowed to continue to visit Flora are raised when those who care for her at the sanctuary think that it will worsen her PTSD to have him constantly coming and then leaving her all over again. To this day, Flora lives in Tennessee and the workers at the sanctuary have continued to refuse visiting rights to David. The plot of the film was very compelling. The audience is brought into the life of David and Flora very effectively. The lovable elephant captures the hearts of those watching, making it hard to not care about the outcome of her journey to find a suitable home.
Being a documentary, One Lucky Elephant was not like most movies. It followed the actual events of David’s search for a new home for Flora. According to Leeman, it took 10 years to film. This filming occurred off and on as the search progressed. It resembled a special that could be seen on Animal Planet or National Geographic. I think that films like these are popular because they let viewers see into a world that they would not get to see otherwise. They get to see the wonders of the world, such as magnificent elephants, and hopefully learn a little bit about them.
Because of the film followed the lives of those involved, no professional actors were in it. David, Flora, and those zookeepers and sanctuary workers were all the real deal. Many times throughout the film, different people were interviewed about what they experienced and how they felt about Flora’s journey. Their performances where very genuine because they were actually there. The emotions portrayed were real and that made the film even more memorable. The star of the show was most definitely Flora. She, among all those in the film, was the only “professional” actor. She did it for 16 years in the circus that was named for her. Seeing her was the highlight of the movie. She was extremely curious and constantly trying to reach out and touch things, including the camera!
The technique used in One Lucky Elephant was that of a documentary. No special effects were used because it is meant to be real life. They didn’t try to hide the fact that it was being filmed. Sometimes you could see the camera moving as someone held it or hear an interviewer asking questions out of view. While this is common for documentaries, sometimes I wished that I hadn’t noticed these things. I was really into the film and then that would happen, and I would be brought back to the reality that I was sitting in a theater. But at other times this was a good thing because it was much more down-to-earth. One thing I really liked was the use of home videos from Flora’s past. I think it added authenticity and made the audience feel as though they knew Flora personally. The dialogue did not feel scripted at all. It made the relationship between David and Flora seem more normal. Sometimes the camera would just follow them around their normal day. It showed how comfortable they were together. Because it wasn’t scripted, sometimes the thoughts of David made him seem like he didn’t know a lot about what was good for Flora and that he was being selfish. I think that they may have edited the film to show him acting like this near the end when Flora had moved to the sanctuary to stress that the common person does not necessarily know what is best for exotic animals.
While watching this film, heartstrings were definitely pulled at. The mixed feelings that David has about his relationship with Flora are very conflicting. This conflict is conveyed to the audience. He realizes that treating Flora like a human and not as an elephant may have been a mistake. His love for her and his desire for her happiness makes this realization an even harder thing to handle. He realizes too late that raising her without the company of other elephants was a mistake because she now lacks the social skills to interact with individuals of her own species. The difficulty that she has adjusting to her new environment when she is separated from David is heartbreaking. Despite the cross-species distance between Flora and the audience, the viewers can easily identify with her uneasiness and fear. They can also understand the difficulty that David has watching the elephant that he views as a daughter “grow up” and leave the nest.
The theme that this documentary hits on is the nature of human relationships with animals. It makes the viewer question the ownership of something that was once wild. Should an animal such as Flora be a pet or even daughter to someone who has no experience with exotic animals? What influence does human interaction have on animals like Flora? The film looks at how elephants are violently captured in the wild and how they are treated in circuses, showing videos of how Flora was forcefully trained to preform for Circus Flora. In the end the viewer is left to his own opinion if the best thing for Flora is not to see David and even if what David did in raising her was wrong. Although it ends with questions, I think this is exactly was the viewer needs. These relationships need to be called into question. No one can say for sure what is right, but we need to at least be aware of what is happening.
With these questions about what is right for Flora, came questions about David. How he is represented is really interesting. At first, I identified with David. The film made him seem like a loving parent to Flora and only wanting what was best for her. By the end however, this identification vanished. Once she was in the sanctuary, he became agitated and angry. While it is understandable that he would be unhappy with not being able to see her, he made it clear that he wanted what was best for Flora. Although psychologists and elephant specialists were saying that her not seeing him was best for her, he refused to see it this way. It made him seem very ignorant and selfish. At about this time in the film, information on how circus animals are treated was discussed. Elephants are tied with chains and ropes and pulled into the positions that their trainers want them in—over and over and over again. They did this by showing a home video of this exact thing happening to Flora. The film also showed news reports of elephants attacking humans in circuses, saying that little things can set of PTSD in elephants that have been violently taken from their mothers. By casting circuses and David in this way, the film really makes the viewer question whether of not elephants should be raised by humans and forced to act to entertain us.
One Lucky Elephant calls into question our ideology as humans that we are the commanding species on the earth and, therefore, must dominate all other species. The film stresses cooperation between humans and animals and makes the viewer realize that what we may think is best for the breathtaking animals that walk this earth may not necessarily be true.
Below is the trailer to the movie and a link to The Elephant Sanctuary website's profile on Flora.
No comments:
Post a Comment