Be born free to watch this movie, probably more well-known for its music than the movie itself. It Composer John Barry would win "Best Original Score" and "Title Song" in 1966 Oscar for this film. It was just that great of a song. The theme song has this epic western style to it to the point; it can be mistaken for a Western theme song, if the viewer heard the song first, than seeing the movie. At first glance, first time viewers might think of this as National Geo special documentary, but it's more than that. 'Born Free' is the true story based on the book 'Born Free', directed by James Hill, a Game Hunter George Adamson (Bill Travers) known to the natives as 'Baba ya Simba' which means 'Father of Lions" in Swahili and his wife (Virginia McKenna) living in Africa, was forced to kill a man-eating lion. It becomes clear that they would have to adopt his children for the young cubs to stay alive. Two of the cubs are sent to zoos around the world, and the other Elsa became their house pet. It wasn't until Elsa became a full –grown lioness, that the Adamson realize that they must do what is right for them, and set her free to learn to survive on its own by training her, but she might be too tame to live on her own. The movie has its charm, and was made with lot of love toward animals, to the point, you feel sad was animal characters like Pattie because they are brought up as family members to the Adamson. Funny moments like the Adamson trying to get Elsa a date and a warthog beating up a lion was a laugh. The first part of the movie, the opening might be a little bit disturbing for younger viewers due to it dealing with deaths of both human and animal. The rest of the movie is a coming to age story for the lion Elsa and PG clearly is the right rated for the film. The movie tries to have a sum-plot focusing on George's illness with malaria, hunters/poachers, an elephant stampede and rogue lions. The animal trainers were very good, and the way the animal act in the film is clearly brilliant
both in a playfulness matter, and in scenes of great danger. Many hard hours of animal training went to creating this short beautiful film. The movie was follow up with 'Live Free', a sequel to the book and movie that reveals more about Elisa's life in the wild. The movie leaves its viewers of a happy ending, which sadly didn't pan out for both the Adamson and Elsa in real life, but it does make the film watchable
and lives the audience wanting to learn more about big cats and Africa itself.
Review of Born Free
