By Daniel Nelson

 

Lion Ark

Lion Ark

Image by Lion Ark

“It’s not a choice of one or another,” says Jan Creamer, president of Animal Defenders International (ADI). “When we protect the weakest or the most vulnerable, whether it’s animals or people, we all gain. That’s how we shape our world.”

She quotes Mahatma Gandhi as saying that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

Lion Ark tells the story of one battle in the war: how ADI, having built up information about animal circuses in Bolivia and worked to get a law passed banning these enterprises, decided to implement the law’s provisions by seizing the animals and transporting them to a safe haven.

It tells it like an adventure story – it is an adventure story:  there are confrontations with the owners of beastwagons, some operating in lawless, dangerous areas, who threaten to block ADI workers; there are hungry, angry lions in rickety old cages; there are complex logistical problems in moving animals hundreds, finally tens of thousands, of miles.

But this is no earnest tale of civil society do-gooders: it’s more like Raiders of the Lost Ark. As director Tim Phillips has said: “We wanted Lion Ark to entertain and inspire, but also to have audiences laughing - this is not your traditional documentary – it’s a rollercoaster ride which will have you cheering for the lions as the rescuers defy the odds to bring them to freedom.” 

The filmmakers know when to cut, how to move swiftly from scene to scene, how to tug at your heartstrings; how to weave in just enough explanation – and not a word more, how to pump up the drama with loud music. It’s exciting. You’re there, on the spot, involved, and wondering what will happen next.

The lions, of course, are magnificent and cute and the ADI team are a sympathetic bunch.

In one place they find a second, previously uncharted circus, where they decide to move swiftly in, and when the operation is apparently completed, with all 24 lions taken into care, they learn of a last, lone lion, a “grand old boy” who hasn’t heard another lion roar for years.

It’s terrific – down to the final heartwarming scenes as the lions are flown to their new home in Colorado in the US. If you ever doubted that animal happiness is a myth, watch the joy – to a soundtrack of Joe Strummer belting out Redemption Song, “sing the songs of freedom” – as the lions, previously battered and ill-treated, roll and run (relatively) free.

Bolivia is said to have the most progressive law on animal circuses in the world, but almost 30 countries have full or partial bans, including Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Colombia, Cyprus, El Salvador, Greece, Panama, Paraguay and Slovenia. In Peru, a similar rescue operation, ‘Spirit of Freedom’, (these guys know how to win headlines) is underway, with ADI is once again helping enforce an animal circus ban, having secured the legislation. 

The UK has introduced a Bill for a wild animal ban and the US has launched the Travelling Exotic Animal Protection Act.

And the final credits assure us: ‘Animals were saved from harm during the production on this movie.’

·         Lion Ark will have a West End gala screening on 6 December and be screened at the Brixton Ritzy on 15 December, plus Cardiff (11 Nov); Glasgow (15 Nov); Liverpool (1 Nov); Oxford (25 Nov); Bristol (28 Nov); Guildford (1 Dec); Colchester (o Dec); New Brighton, Merseyside (11 Dec); and Southampton (17 Dec). 

 

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