No spoilers. Just a warning to moms out there---very hard to watch. One scene in particular made me feel like I had been punched in the stomach. Definitely do not bring children. They wouldn't understand.
I expected to see a lioness defend her cubs to the end. I was a bit surprised and a little let down with what transpired.
Hi,
can you please PM with what happened to the cub. I don't want to go into the movie shocked.
thanks.
Over two thirds of lion cubs die young, almost all from violent deaths.
The OP syaing "definitely do not bring children" is overwrought and hysterical. Children are perfectly cable of seeing nature films. For eons children lived among animals and saw every aspect of animal life from them being killed, to in fact them being killed by humans so we could eat them.
So if you beleive bringing up your children so they have no understanding of nature, avoid this excellent documentary.
I'm 29 and I was a complete and utter mess when that scene happened. Yes, the Circle of Life happens but I don't think any child is going to want to see that scene. I'm not stupid, I understand that cubs don't make it and when the first cub was EATEN by the crocodile, I could deal with it, because they didn't show it. But this part, this was hard.
The lioness struggles for food and finally she comes up with a plan to find and catch a water buffalo. Yes, I understood that she would be leaving them behind and when they showed that the water buffalo had trampled the area, I guess I just assumed they would be dead. When they showed the lioness searching for her cubs and she got no response, again, I assumed they were dead. But then to see off in the distance, 1 cub crying for her mom, my heart was lifted, until you saw the lioness try and carry the cub. After she left the cub fall from her mouth, we, the audience, get to watch for many minutes as a little cub drags her two back legs behind her (her back has been broken), while crying for her mother, who has dropped her and walked off. She does go back and pick her up again but lets her go and then walks off, with the cub, crawling to try and get to her mother, while again, crying, meowing. And then she just leaves, swims across the river to the other side. The last scene is the little cub, alone, scared, crying for her mother, probably not understanding why her mom has left her and then you see a hawk or eagle and assume she's been picked up and eaten.
I'm sorry but THAT is just a little too hard to watch, even for a young child. I've been watching nature programs my entire life. I grew up with a 4ft. high stack of my grandfather's National Geographic magazines and the Nat Geo channel after school and that scene in this movie was just about the hardest thing to watch. Defenseless animals are one thing, but you see the love and bond between mother and cub and watch as a mother has to leave her baby for dead while the baby is still alive.
So I'm sorry, we can teach our children all we want, but sometimes, there are times, when some things may just be a LITTLE hard for children to watch. And I'm glad someone is giving a warning for parents who may want to show this to their children but are unaware of what exactly is happening.
I agree with you totally... I haven't seen this movie to be honest but I am so sensitive to scenes like these that I honestly cannot help it.
I don't know, perhaps wild-life shows have become more realistic or brutal but I don't know why I am so sensitive to this stuff. When i was a kid I could watch & feel saddened by it but not as disturbed & emotional as I am to scenes like these today.
It's like I just cannot watch Wild-Life Documentaries anymore & I think it's pretty sad.
I've seen Wild-life shows that were quite brutal & quite disturbing. I've seen Wildebeest practically eaten alive by a Starving pack of Hyenas & it affected me for days. Even now when thinking back of that Wild- life show (Planet Carnivore- Nat Geo) Geez, it was the most horrific & most frightening thing I've ever seen in my Life & believe me.... I'm a horror fan, I love horror movies.
I'm not afraid of anything but the Wild... I'm petrified of the Wild, I just cannot see that stuff anymore.
I have the opinion that if a child is old enough to understand what's going on in that scene, that they should be able to watch it. There's definitely great sadness and disappointment in the choice of the mother lion, but it's nature, and the scene is nowhere near gruesome or anything.
If you want to shield your child from that or warn other mothers of the nature of the scene to let them decide for themselves, that's perfectly fine. But don't go frightening other people :p
I must admit, I've shed a tear to that scene, and I imagine you did too, but it is nowhere near unsuited for children, as the emotions caused by that scene to the viewers are directly related to formed concepts of parenting, abandonment and sacrifice. All of these concepts are hard to grasp (or relate to) for young children, so I can't imagine them being affected by the scene as hard as we are. And again, it's nature. Your kid can see a cat eating a bird in the streets, or just a dead chick that fell from the nest. And there's no way you can shield them from that.
The lioness struggles for food and finally she comes up with a plan to find and catch a water buffalo. Yes, I understood that she would be leaving them behind and when they showed that the water buffalo had trampled the area, I guess I just assumed they would be dead. When they showed the lioness searching for her cubs and she got no response, again, I assumed they were dead. But then to see off in the distance, 1 cub crying for her mom, my heart was lifted, until you saw the lioness try and carry the cub. After she left the cub fall from her mouth, we, the audience, get to watch for many minutes as a little cub drags her two back legs behind her (her back has been broken), while crying for her mother, who has dropped her and walked off. She does go back and pick her up again but lets her go and then walks off, with the cub, crawling to try and get to her mother, while again, crying, meowing. And then she just leaves, swims across the river to the other side. The last scene is the little cub, alone, scared, crying for her mother, probably not understanding why her mom has left her and then you see a hawk or eagle and assume she's been picked up and eaten.
I am thinking of taking my 7 year old to see this movie she loves lions what exactly happened that distubed you so much and do you think it would be a good idea to take a child this age to see this movie? Thanks for your input.
shareIf you know anything about lion behaviour and social dynamics then you can very easily guess at what unpleasant scenes might be there.
Male lion cubs remain with the mother and pride until they are on the cusp of sexual maturity, at which point their father drives them out of the pride by way of a fight.
The young male (or males, if he has brothers the same age) will then go off in search of their own territory and look for a pride with an older, weaker male that they can kill in order to usurp his females and territory. Once an older male has been driven off he will generally die from wounds inflicted during the fight, or die from starvation because he may be too old and injured to hunt effectively on his own. (Males in the wild live—on average—just 7 years, while that figure is typically doubled for those in captivity.)
When a new male (or pair of males) takes over a pride, they will kill all of the cubs—regardless of age—sired by the older, displaced male. They don't eat them, but they do dismember them using all available claws/teeth etc. The females/mothers do not typically offer resistance once it is clear that their former protector has been beaten and driven off. The death of their cubs will put them back into estrus and they will mate with the new pride leader.
So to be blunt, if you are watching a lion documentary that has any hope of being true to their actual biology and sociology, you are going to see extremely young cubs killed by an adult male, because that is what happens in every wild lion pride every few years.
I am assuming you didn't see the film because your description, although true in the natural world of lions, did not happen in the movie. You are accurate with your description of what usually happens to cubs when a male lion takes over a pride and it is very difficult to watch in the documentaries. However, in this film, that does not happen. What does happen is far more difficult to watch because there is suffering involved. There were two more moms in the theatre whom I did not know, but saw at the end of the film. All were crying and upset by this one particular scene. If you are a mom--this scene will be painful to watch. Actually, it even upset a father. I don't know anyone who can bare to watch any living thing suffer.
shareI agree it was very difficult to watch. And I usually can distance myself with documentaries by saying "Ah well, such is life." but these scenes were extremely brutal. I haven't been so disturbed by a movie since I saw Mondo Cane' back in the 60s.
shareI NEVER respond to comments or "post" but this film was breathtaking as well as taking my breath away. Your comments, though made long ago, really helped me put in a better prespective. I do not actively seek out these kinds of programs when I do happen to chance upon them..I know I will be upset from something.the odds are low for all 3 cubs to survive I am contantly drawn to it even though I turn the channel.
If the producers or filmmakers wanted to shake my world they succeeded. I am sure that little female cub carrcasse has long turned to dust but the imagine will haunt me forever. I will use all my resources to try to help by donation.
I will say the reunion and acceptance at the end of the film helped me to balance my anguish. I also like to have false hope the humans stepped in and at least ended the cubs misery but...
As disturbing as these documentaries can be, it is nature. I always look away while they are eating their kill, but I also know this is their means of survival. What I find really troubling is people who choose to keep big cats and raise them as domestic pets. Eventually something will go wrong, and the animal will be destroyed.
shareI agree with everyone who wrote here, this was for me the one of the hardest and saddest things I ever watched in movies, fiction or documentary, in my whole life. Mind you, I am a veterinarian, and have seen many animals die, euthanized many of them myself. But the little crippled cub meowing and her mother's facial expression just before she left, closing her eyes in anguish, just about broke my heart and I was there in tears.
I guess my problem, and of many of those who posted here, is the cub being left behind unable to follow and not understanding what's going on. As somebody wrote, a quick death would be easier to deal with, but that anguished screaming will stay with me for ever.
It could be just the editing, but it seems a fact that soon after losing that last cub (at that moment not yet having re-located the third one)the lioness attacked the big leading buffalo,in what looks like a very desperate and enraged attempt of revenge, even knowing she had no chance to bring him down all by himself.
Well, I recommend this movie to everybody, but it I had watched it as a kid, it would have been even harder on me. But then, it could easily have shaped my life towards working in this field. So, I think that the decision to let or not a young person watch it is a very personal one. But think of the famous Bambi scene multiplied by about a thousand.
Havent cried in years, this was the saddest thing i have ever seen on television... i wonder how long this sadness will last:(
shareFirst off, this is an amazing movie despite the sad reality it showed. And it is a shame when someone (read someone is going pass this movie up being it is sad) here just read our comments about it being sad and hinders them from seeing the movie. Anyway, I started to appreciate how these big cats live and survive when I started watching Big Cat Diary more than a year ago and one of the loved cheetah cub was killed by hyenas (now I cheer when they get killed by a male lion). Before that I couldn't even look when lions kill another animal, my motto was, I don't need to know these things. And this year I watched like about 5-6 documentary and movies (Disney African Cats, Eternal Enemies Lions and Hyenas, The Last Lions, National Geographic: Predators at War, National Geographic: Ultimate Cat, all about Lions, Cheetahs and Leopards. Others made me cry, but this one really stabs me right there in the heart...
SPOILER NEXT: They probably saw a lot of cubs getting killed but this one actually showed how a mother lion (lioness)had to leave her cub (with a broken heart) I believe. She really tried to carry her too... And the shot where the audience really couldn't see what happened to the cub, until..... she had to follow her mother... I gasped, when they finally showed what really happened to the cub.
It really is heartbreaking to see. I don't think they even showed how exactly the cub die and I bet they know how. But it is probably worst if they show it...
If I'm right in thinking we're talking about the cub she had to walk away from, oh my, my reaction was totally unbidden, I burst into tears, and still can't shake the image of that cub watching as the mother walked away. Yes, we all know nature is harsh, but it's never fun to see the worst and most painful aspects.
shareI always watched animal documentaries with some of the most brutal scenes when I was very small. I wasn't traumatized, I learnt about nature and grew up to respect every aspect of it. I don't think children should be shielded from all that, they should be shown all the aspect of nature if you want them to understand it.
shareNot sure why the original poster won't be specific for you. Spoiler (I guess): A young cub's back is broken and we see agonizing scenes of the cub dragging its hind legs behind it before the mom makes the decision that she must abandon the cub because there's nothing she can do.
shareI can see why that can be heartbreaking to see, it's hard just to imagine. But I still think that if you explain to the child that it's just how nature works the child can learn a lot from it. The reason why I became so compassionate toward animals when I was small was because I saw them suffering. I think it teaches an important lesson, that animals feel like we do and that's why we have to care about them.
sharedamn.. that must be the most sad scene i have EVER seen in a movie.. sure its life but still freakin sad.. wow..
shareSaw this last night. My wife and I were 2 of maybe 12, but the movie itself was captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed, even with the very sad scenes of the cubs. What a brutally harsh life for all the animals that shared that small island. I was amazed at the aggressiveness of the buffalo.
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Not entirely sure why this is addressed to "moms out there". As a devoted single Dad/film lover I will be taking my six and seven year olds to see this because I enjoy our open discussions about real life situations.
It's the same reason I took them to the Bodies Exhibition. My son, at the age of five, could point to and identify all the major organs in a body. He's infatuated by it.
Why would I shield them from the harsh realities in life when they can learn and grow from these experiences?
"Pretend it's all pretend." ~Sy Parrish
yeah. i'm no mom! (nor a dad). was still worth watching.
Golf clap? Golf clap.
Yeah, the scene in The Last Lions made the scene in March of the Penguins where the one gets left behind seem tame by comparison.
And as someone said, you should have warned "parents" in general if you felt the need to throw out some caution. Fathers don't want to traumatize their young children and more than mothers do. (Not saying the movie will traumatize kids. My 8 year old nephew was fine afterwards.)
"When something's true, you know it the first time you hear it."