Don't Believe the Hype

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

From Frank Machin to Marcus Aurelius,Richard Harris has hidden behind various accents,mannerisms and eccentricities for so many years that it came as a bit of a shock to discover that,when the mood was on him,he could still produce an honest and revealing performance.As George Adamson the pioneer wildlife preservationist he has cut to the bare bones and given us a wilful,stubborn shambling wreck of a man who refuses to accept that he has grown old - a thirty year old in an 80 year old's body. Grumbling,misanthropic,tunnel - visioned,Harris's Adamson is not an easy man to like,but,unlike many of his former characterisations,he is a totally believable one. "To walk with lions" is a "warts and all" portrait of an Africa riven with internal strife and careless of the fate of it's wildlife.Game poachers bribe or intimidate Wardens,rebel "soldiers" rape and murder at will whilst Adamson's Reserve seems an oasis of hope,reason and enlightenment. It could,if you were terribly non PC,be taken as representing the last outpost of the Empire,but of course I'm sure that was not the filmmakers'intention. Ordered by the Kenyan government to quit,Adamson,predictably,digs his heels in,and the scene is set for a confrontation he is not going to win. Stubborness is the feature all the main characters share.Adamson's brother,a man not converted to the cause of the lions ("..the elephant - now "THERE'S an animal!"),his new assistant,Byronic drifter Fitzjohn,mauled by a lion,shot at by poachers,beaten up by soldiers,he still persists in his aim to move Adamson's Reserve to Namibia,and Lucy, Anthropologist and Fitzjohn's partner - in -resolve to continue Adamson's work, they share a steely determination to fulfill their self - allotted tasks. Honor Blackman appears in a small part as Joy Adamson and certainly seizes her moment.Geraldine Chaplin arrives towards the end as Adamson's former mistress .In attempting to rescue her from a rebel ambush he is shot to death. Uncomfortable questions are asked about Africa's future and the future of its wildlife,but with the current genocide in Darfur and strife and unrest in so many other states,it is apparent that the country's leaders may have more on their minds than saving a few animals.From their point of view it may well be a matter of priorities. I was disturbed by this movie,left with an overwhelming feeling of gloom over the fate of millions of my fellow human beings.What they need is someone like George Adamson to speak for them.

This is a great film, but it is badly let down by poor directing and a very stilted performance by John Michie. Richard Harris plays George Adamson to absolute perfection and Ian Bannen is equally marvellous as his brother Terence, but John Michie is just too suave to be convincing. Its also distractingly jerky in parts almost as if the director couldn't decide if this was to be a film about George Adamson or about Tony Fitzjohn or a film that explored their relationship. Perhaps he had hoped it would do all three, but instead it just highlights the difference between a great actor at the height of his powers and someone who looks good in shorts, wastes the talents of Honor Blackman and gets a PG-13 certificate when it could have had equally as much impact and a greater potential audience as a G with very little effort.

Director Carl Schultz has made an extraordinary film with the help of some vastly talented and brave actors who overcame their fears to work with lions in Africa."To Walk With Lions" was featured in the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival and presented by the director, some actors and producers of the film, all of whom should be very proud of a triumphant and majestic film. The landscapes are magnificent and breathtaking, and prove to be an intriguing backdrop to an even more intriguing man who became something of a legend in our time.Thirty years ago, "Born Free" told the story of the Adamsons from its inception. This film carries on their story it until its tragic end in the late eighties. It mostly concerns the wildlife preserve "Kora", run by George Adamson, played incredibly by the wonderful and distinguished Richard Harris. The troubles in Africa continue even still as the corrupt Kenyan government and poachers prevail in the slaughter of the African wildlife, threatening extinction without much concern for the consequences. The story is told through the eyes of Tony Fitzjohn, as played by John Michie. Fitzjohn continues the Adamson crusade to preserve wildlife and rehabilitate lions from captivity back into the wild even today. The film was followed by an interesting Q&A where it was revealed that the majority of scenes with lions were real, which is astonishing considering the close proximity to the actors in many of the sequences. It would come as no surprise to me if this film was nominated for Oscars. If not, it would only be a testament to the high quality of the other nominees. When your opportunity presents itself, do not pass this one up.

Richard Harris gives a brilliant performance as George Adamson, the leader of an African Lion Preserve. Battling poachers and the threat of losing his land, Adamson maintains his mystical relationship with his Lions in his efforts to retrain these orphans to survive in the wild. There is no doubt that Harris is the much older Adamson, the teacher and student of these magnificent animals.The acting is great. The storyline follows all too familiar relationships between the men and women and are quite predictable. Despite that I highly recommend this film.