A FAMILY FILM WITH BITE !
‘Not so long ago in a distant land were two brothers. One was shy and gentle, the other bold and fierce, but they were separated from each other by fate. One was spared by the protection of a hunter and the other by the love of a child……’
Right from the very start of this exotic movie you know who the main stars are, their names appear first in the title credits and it is indeed their movie. Ladies and gentlemen let me introduce The Tigers Kumal and Sangha.
Here we have a story of a bored big game hunter (Guy Pearce) that is finding the world is at change. Ivory is not as popular as it once was but the antiquities of the old temples of Indochina are the flavour of the day. So he sets off on a raiding mission to bring these back home and in doing sets events in motion that is the main plot of the story. Upon raiding and destroying the old statues a tiger family is put at risk by using deadly force and the journey for our Two Brothers kicks off.
The tiger family gets separated and the cubs are divided, the first ends in the hands of our hunter and the second is discovered and befriended by a young boy as both parents are believed dead. Through a serious of events and the cubs grow up their personalities reverse. The shy and tame Sangha changes into a temperamental and vicious animal and the bold and brave Kumal is beaten into a timid shadow of his former self. It is now here years later that their paths cross as they face each other as forced enemies.
This family movie is an incredible roller coaster of emotion which will have you panting along with the big cats and grinning fiercely at the joyful antics of the cubs amidst the temple settings of Cambodia and Thailand. It’s something that you fall in love with within the first few moments. Thankfully unlike 'Pride ' (by John Downer) we do not have talking animals, the tigers themselves are enough to overwhelm the coldest of hearts.
This seems to be the movie that Jean-Jacques has been gearing up to his whole career, he’s taken to animals before in ‘The Bear’ , set his films in Indochina with ‘Seven Years in Tibet’ and ‘The Lover’ and used colonial times as the backdrop to ‘Black and White in Colour’ now all come together masterfully.
Just like in ‘The Bear’ , his other animal opus, the human characters play a second to their animal counterparts but Guy Pearce (Memento , LA Confidential ) looks truly in place and at ease in his role. His character is loosely based upon two real-life rouges: Jim Corbett, an English hunter who tracked down 'man-eaters' and finally became upset at the idea of people sport hunting that he became a conservationist and Andre Malraux, a French writer and adventurer who spent some time fighting against colonialism in Indochina. Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , Finding Neverland ) is excellent too as the young Raoul who befriends and tries to protect one of the cubs.The temple backdrops to this story are sumptuous and it is impossible to tell a set from the real thing. The sets had to be constructed in such a way that they would not be eaten by its stars and the temples where cast for the moulding of the sets so they matched perfectly. But the real locations proved to be more problematic with having to clear the area of mines before filming commenced and being aware of the presence of deadly snakes and scorpions kept the caged cast on it’s toes.
Stephen Warbeck (Billy Elliot , Charlotte Gray ) scores lovingly, taking in its time period and is filled with everything from jazz to more traditional exotic touches. It is completely in tune and never inappropriately overwhelming.
A special nod should be given to Thierry Le Portier (Gladiator ) and Monique Angeon, the animal trainers, as without them and their 30 tigers this film would not have been possible.
Now to the disc itself. The movie is available in either full or widescreen versions (just widescreen on offer for the UK audience) and has an English 5.1 track. The French release actually has an English DTS track too so why it is amiss here is a mystery. The special features include a wonderful and insightful audio commentary in English by director and co-writer Jean-Jacques Annaud (Enemy at the Gates , Quest For Fire ), which is amusing and interesting on all the techniques used to film the animals. Right down to the camera crews being in cages and the animals walking free and utilising HD Digital and 35mm cameras to their full effect so that not to miss any antics of the main stars themselves.<!--page-->‘Wild About Tigers’ is a documentary on tigers from their evolution to their possible extinction. This runs approx 36 mins and narrated by Guy Pearce showing from birth to play to masterful hunter to ‘man-eater’ to spiritual protector. Parents should beware that some of the fight scenes, although brief might prove a little frightening for tiny tots.
The short featurettes contain a ‘SFX featurette’ which is gob smacking as for most of the time you are not aware of this movie having any special effects and this just shows how wrong you are and how seamless they appear right down to a camera shy fish being the victim of CGI. ‘Tiger Brothers’, ‘Tiger Trainers’, ‘Tiger Cam’ and ‘Tiger Tech’ all seem to be snippets from a larger making of and show some lovely footage of the cubs at play. There’s the ‘theatrical trailer’ and ‘Baby Tiger Outtakes’ which show the coconut scene in all its glory. Finally ‘Call of the Wild’ is a tongue in cheek roar fest of fur flying and frolics wrapped up in an amusing montage.
All in all it’s a charming story for all the family and the collection of features has something for everyone too.
The French Box set
For those wishing an extra bite, look no further than the limited edition French 4 disc box set. This is a marvel.Disc 1 contains the movie in widescreen and full screen can be viewed on disc 2. Both have the previously mentioned English DTS track as well as a French audio version but the audio commentary is in French only.
Disc 3 is where the fun takes off again with one of the best making of features covering every aspect of the filming and running at 75mins but sadly in French audio only, storyboards for various sequences with commentary, essays and montages, photo gallery plus the tiger documentary and the SFX feature as per the UK and US release but now in French.
Now it’s the charming disc 4 where we have the adventures of Kumal and Sangha. This is the tigers at play and includes the coconut chasing of 'Baby Tiger Outtakes' as one of four segments.
A 100 page notebook containing many photographs, notes and storyboards covering the whole spectrum of the movie from conception to post production. 10 photos and a postcard complete one of the most handsome DVD boxed sets to encounter.
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