Thursday 24 July 2014

A real raising baby

Born Free (1966)

Directed by James Hill this film based on a true story stars Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers. In Kenya a woman and her husband raise a lioness cub.

At times this film is a little too obvious with it's idea of drawing parallels between raising a lioness and parenthood but generally does a fairly good job of raising the issues of conservation as well as reintroducing animals to the wild. You could read the film as a comment on de-colonisation following the end of the British Empire, which does make the story seem patronising and slightly offensive, but I doubt this was the intended metaphor. Where the film is really impressive is the locations (although the photography is not that spectacular) and the excellent animal work which must have been required for this film.


4/5

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