My friend Angelo was telling me how much he has enjoyed some of the National Geographic films and after reading his recent reviews of a few, I decided to give them a chance. After all, most of the National Geographic films are exceptional and it features the smooth as silk voice of Keith David, who narrates this film.
As you watch this footage, you really appreciate the camerawork. After all, it's at night in this South African reserve...and the footage looks so close. Often you forget that this means a camera person has spent weeks or months taking these shots...and it's pretty amazing. It's interesting that in this show, you do see glimpses of the cameraman and he narrates a bit of the show as well. Kim Wolhuter did a wonderful job...and I am going to have to check and see if he's made any other films. I especially was surprised to see Wolhuter filming so very close to many Cape Buffalo...creatures that are even more dangerous to people than leopards! Apparently, he was willing to do what he had to in order to get this footage...even though Cape Buffalo are listed on a top 10 deadliest animals in Africa list I found online. It also means he had to have had an assistant, as how else could you see him taking some of the footage?
It's funny. Although the film shows a lot of blood as the leopard hunts, I found myself feeling sorry for the leopard as nearly every time it made a kill, the jerks of the animal world, the hyenas, came in to steal its dinner...and if it wasn't them, it was lions! I know that is just the way of nature.
Overall, another excellent National Geographic film...one of the better ones I've seen. Well made and never dull.
By the way, some might be put off by the gore...parents you might want to think twice before showing this to young kids. But this is a nature show...and this is the way things really are in the wild. That also goes for the leopard mating and marking its territory.