Mia and the White Lion (4½ Stars)

This is a film that took my breath away from the first minutes. How is it possible to make a film with a lion? Isn't it dangerous? In some scenes the lion even jumps onto Mia. It's only playing, but I'd be scared of playing with a lion on top of me. Wouldn't you?

10-year-old Mia moves from London to South Africa with her parents. She hates it. She doesn't have any friends in school. Her father breeds wild animals, including lions, and sells them to parks and zoos. One day a white lion is born. It's a rarity. Supposedly there are only 13 white lions in the world today. And one of them was available to make this film.

When a lion cub is born with white hair he's presented to Mia, and she calls him Charlie. He's taken into the house as a pet. He's a sweet little thing.

But he gets bigger.

And bigger.

And bigger. He reaches his full size when he's three years old.

This is one thing that confused me when I was watching the film. Were different lions used for the different sizes? And what about Mia? She looks much older in the later scenes. I found the answers online. The film was made over a three year period. Wow! That meant a lot of dedication from the actors, even if the young actress Daniah De Villiers was only occasionally filming in her school holidays.

But getting back to the film itself, when Charlie is three years old, Mia's father tells her it's time to sell him. This makes her sad, but it's even worse. She discovers that he's been lying to her for years. He doesn't sell animals to zoos, he sells them to trophy hunters who want the thrill of shooting a wild animal.

I once met a man like that when I was working at Bosch. He told me that he goes on safari holidays to Africa. He boasted about all the animals he's killed. Hunters are charged for the animals they kill. He complained about elephants. He told me it's no fun shooting an elephant, because it costs $5000, and it's a stupid animal that just walks slowly towards you as you raise your gun. Personally, I don't think it's the animal that's stupid. I was speechless. I just looked at the man, unable to believe what he was telling me. How can any sane man get pleasure from killing a defenceless animal? It should be illegal.

But getting back to the film, the rest of the story is about Mia fighting to protect Charlie.

Someone like Mia should have put a bullet in the head of the man at Bosch.

It's a wonderful film that I need to see again soon.

Success Rate:  + 2.2

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