"Baumlöwen" or "Tree Climbing Lions", written and directed by Katie Bauer Murdock for whom it was the first of only two filmmaking credits so far, is an American documentary from the United States that was released in December 2018, so it is a bit over five years old now and according to imdb at this point, it is a German-language production although I do not think this is correct. Probably somebody watched the German version here that was provided by Disney+ who are behind the production of this little movie. The people you see in here seem to be talking English in the original. This includes Alexander Braczkowski, who could very well be from Germany given the name, put my more likely guess is that he is American with Polish root probably. You really see him from beginning to end of this film. It can still be considered a short film or short documentary as it runs for slightly over 44 minutes and what it is all about can be read in the title of the film. Lions and the ones we see in here are in Uganda in the middle of Africa. I must say I am not exactly an expert on the question if and how often lions climb up trees but the way they elaborated on it here, especially at the beginning, it does not seem to be too often the case. They also did not find a definite explanation yet why the ones here to it. There were guesses that had to do with slightly lower temperatures up there or with less flies up there or with them being in better positions to spot potential prey. Maybe it is a mix of all these things.
I liked about this documentary how in-between on quite a few occasions, it provided interesting information snippets on lions in general, like how many cubs they have, how you can keep them apart etc. It is probably no content or knowledge that you have never heard on another lion documentary, but if we are honest, then how often do you watch those exactly? Surely not more frequently than once a year an that seems already a bit of a stretch, so probably even less often. What I did not like about this documentary was how it felt almost like a long Youtube video at times with the wild camera work and dramatization. I am not saying they made any of this up or at least I do not hope so, but I am mostly talking there about an injured female lion that they have to catch and give some medical treatment too and also another female lion where they cannot be sure where one of her cubs is and they wonder if it is missing. At the very end almost, there is the relief then when we understand that the cub has returned and apparently been with another female grown-up lion that took care of it for a while as some kind of proxy mother. Which is not uncommon for lions apparently, but also does not happen all the time and especially not for as many days as it did here. But if we go back to the injured lion, then I must say the wound looked pretty bad and also what was up with her ear. Good news they managed to help her and perhaps she will really have several cubs in the future than that never would have lived if she had died from her wound. But still, there it was too exaggerated again for my liking when we see Braczkowski driving fast in his car and being filmed at the same time and of course having to be at the center of the action when the people working there and fully in charge carry the lion from one place to another. The worst dramatization was maybe the scene with the vultures until the relief happens that they are not there for the lion in question, but for a dead hippopotamus. Man, that was huge too. I like them and felt a bit sorry there for sure, but well this is nature too.
Or maybe the worst in the sense of saddest moment was what happened at the end of the documentary then when we find out through words on the screen that many lions and their cubs got killed by people who own cattle apparently and were scared the lions might kill said cattle. Or even killed some already. But still, despite this shock, the documentary ends on a high note as we find out a new female lion has settled in the area with actually pretty many cubs. This is good news, but what we need to keep in mind is that this film is from several years ago, but yeah I hope the aforementioned female lion is still alright and same for her kinds. Surely, some of those are mal lions too that you do not find out about too much during this documentary. Maybe some form of emancipation too? Anyway, there is only this one male lion relatively early who we find out a little bit about who is 2.5 years old it was I think or was 2.5 years old I should say. That makes him 7.5 years old now. Back then, he was going through puberty and his mane kept growing. I wonder what he looks like today. Anyway, he was not mentioned again in the documentary afterwards. This is all then. I like nature documentaries, even if I do not have gigantic interests in lions, but it was an alright watch overall and the thumbs-up was never in doubt, even if I still feel that this could have been a better outcome with a different approach to certain things. But hey, it's Disney and not NatGeo or the Discovery Channel, so it's all good.
I liked about this documentary how in-between on quite a few occasions, it provided interesting information snippets on lions in general, like how many cubs they have, how you can keep them apart etc. It is probably no content or knowledge that you have never heard on another lion documentary, but if we are honest, then how often do you watch those exactly? Surely not more frequently than once a year an that seems already a bit of a stretch, so probably even less often. What I did not like about this documentary was how it felt almost like a long Youtube video at times with the wild camera work and dramatization. I am not saying they made any of this up or at least I do not hope so, but I am mostly talking there about an injured female lion that they have to catch and give some medical treatment too and also another female lion where they cannot be sure where one of her cubs is and they wonder if it is missing. At the very end almost, there is the relief then when we understand that the cub has returned and apparently been with another female grown-up lion that took care of it for a while as some kind of proxy mother. Which is not uncommon for lions apparently, but also does not happen all the time and especially not for as many days as it did here. But if we go back to the injured lion, then I must say the wound looked pretty bad and also what was up with her ear. Good news they managed to help her and perhaps she will really have several cubs in the future than that never would have lived if she had died from her wound. But still, there it was too exaggerated again for my liking when we see Braczkowski driving fast in his car and being filmed at the same time and of course having to be at the center of the action when the people working there and fully in charge carry the lion from one place to another. The worst dramatization was maybe the scene with the vultures until the relief happens that they are not there for the lion in question, but for a dead hippopotamus. Man, that was huge too. I like them and felt a bit sorry there for sure, but well this is nature too.
Or maybe the worst in the sense of saddest moment was what happened at the end of the documentary then when we find out through words on the screen that many lions and their cubs got killed by people who own cattle apparently and were scared the lions might kill said cattle. Or even killed some already. But still, despite this shock, the documentary ends on a high note as we find out a new female lion has settled in the area with actually pretty many cubs. This is good news, but what we need to keep in mind is that this film is from several years ago, but yeah I hope the aforementioned female lion is still alright and same for her kinds. Surely, some of those are mal lions too that you do not find out about too much during this documentary. Maybe some form of emancipation too? Anyway, there is only this one male lion relatively early who we find out a little bit about who is 2.5 years old it was I think or was 2.5 years old I should say. That makes him 7.5 years old now. Back then, he was going through puberty and his mane kept growing. I wonder what he looks like today. Anyway, he was not mentioned again in the documentary afterwards. This is all then. I like nature documentaries, even if I do not have gigantic interests in lions, but it was an alright watch overall and the thumbs-up was never in doubt, even if I still feel that this could have been a better outcome with a different approach to certain things. But hey, it's Disney and not NatGeo or the Discovery Channel, so it's all good.