MovieChat Forums > The Last Lions (2011) Discussion > Films like these....(spoilers)

Films like these....(spoilers)

posted 12 years ago by halosinfire
2 replies | jump to latest

Are the narrated stories in films like this one real or are they just made up for dramatic effect? For sure, this was a great film with a pretty awesome story. But one could easily see how most or all of it could have been made up with some clever editing.

For example, perhaps both cubs were killed by the buffalos, and the scenes which showed the male cub back were from previously shot footage. And the group of females that were trying to kill the lone lioness and her cubs the whole time suddenly have a change of heart, join her, and they all fight together to fight the buffalos? Could you honestly tell any of them other than "silver eye" apart? Maybe it was just the group, less the long lioness, fighting. Or it could have been ANY group of female lions fighting some buffalos. The hawk coming in to finish off the crippled female cub? Could have just been stock footage of a hawk...I think you see where I'm going with this.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[–] curious_fox24 12 years ago

This is copied from an interview with Dereck Joubert:

"We spent just over 2 years filming, 2 years editing, and we shot about 100 hours of material I think, and editing down to 90 minutes. It is a war of attrition in the editing room deciding what scenes need to go in and what doesn’t."

So, yes, it was edited. Most of the documentaries with "stories" are. There´s is always one cub surviving at the end, no matter what documentary it is.
I can understand reasons for editing a story to make it more attractive for regular viewers, however, I would like them to release also the real story, some kind of "behind the scenes" or something. E.g. did the film-makers step in and put the poor cub out of its misery, or did they just let it suffer and die slowly?

[–] Leonidas808 11 years ago

The last cub survived and is now a sub-adult.

The cub with the broken back died, but with no intervention from the filmmakers.