I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

This movie is about one specific elephant. The life of this elephant included street begging on the one hand; but on the other hand elephants in Buddhist Thailand have a sacred position within the Thai society. The elephant, such as the one in the movie, are considered to be the form of life the first Buddha (Sidhartha)had when through a dream was implanted into the womb of the mother. The role of the elephant is almost like the role of a sacred human being. The street elephant is a religious icon in the Thai Buddhist culture. At the same time the owner of the street elephant needs to make a living from this elephant. In a sense the elephant is like an art form, a heritage piece and a holy entity and a dirty rat at the same time - with no use in Modern day society and big city politics, globalization and capitalism. Lucky for this specific Asian type elephant, that through the filming of his life, the Royalty of Thailand inserted the elephant into a wild life sanctuary because otherwise the Thai family supporting the elephant and the elephant himself would have died in despair and utter poverty.

When Elephants Were Young is an absolutely stunning film that captures the complex relationship between elephants and humans in Thailand. It takes you through an emotional journey of how we're connected to these magnificent creatures through the true story of Wok and his elephant Nong Mai as they walk the streets of Bangkok street begging. As we follow their story, the issues facing the survival of Asian elephants as a whole are addressed revealing the serious need for conservation. If you want to learn more about the plight of elephants in Thailand through the power of a true story, I can not recommend this movie enough. Anyone that watches it will feel a burning need to help the elephant conservation movement in any way possible.

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will. Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs. I try to avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward. " – Charlotte Bronte Anyone who has ever met, or had the privilege of working with Patricia Sims, would understand how the quote above explains the inner being of the woman. I had the honour to be invited to view the screening of her documentary film, "When Elephants Were Young" which debuted at the 2015 Whistler Film Festival this past weekend. The movie plot dealt with the extraordinary, yet complex life, of a mahout and his elephant living and surviving in Thailand. The juxtaposition of their lives was intertwined through a series of emotional and thought provoking scenes. Grappling with the every day need to exist and find work in a land where things are changing rapidly, the mahout had to make a heart breaking decision to sell his elephant after years of working with it, in order to survive. Coming away from the film, I was awakened to the real life dilemmas faced by both man and animal in a world where the line between right and wrong are easily skewed by age-old cultural ideals. Patricia's portrayal of the complexities on both sides of the situation perpetuated a strong sense of empathy for the mahout, yet, at the same time, confirmed the atrocities suffered by the elephant for millennia, are slowly coming to an acknowledgement long overdo. "When Elephants Were Young" is a beautiful documentary that tears at the heart with its ability to sever the ambiguity of nature vs. man by revealing raw footage of authentic life experiences between the two. I would highly suggest taking the whole family to this movie. Lyrics by Kate Bush, resounding throughout the film, summed up the gist of the movie's non-biased theme: "And if I only could, I'd make a deal with God, And I'd get him to swap our places, Be running up that road, Be running up that hill, With no problems." Patricia Sims founded World Elephant Day in 2012. Congratulations on your outstanding film achievement Patricia. Fran Duthie, Co-­founder Elephanatics

This documentary, about the endangered Asian elephant in Thailand, profiles the reality facing a young elephant, Nong Mai, who her owner, Wok, has pressed into illegal begging on the streets of Bangkok. Insight into the threats to the Asian elephant population unfolds alongside the tragedy of seeing the day-to-day grind and pain of Nong Mai's captivity. Loss of habitat (95 percent of Thailand's forests have been harvested and replaced with urban centres or rice fields), poaching for ivory, elephant tourist shows and illegal street begging have so seriously undermined wild elephant populations that they are considered a threatened species. The film also points out the decisions and actions taken by the Thailand government, and conservation organizations, to protect and regenerate the Asian elephant population - which is also a powerful means to regenerate lost forest. When Elephants are Young is powerfully informative and is sure to prompt anyone who watches the film to take part in helping to conserve the wild Asian elephant population in the variety of ways offered.