Journalism of Courage
A Lion Called Christian
Animal Planet
Sunday,December 13,10 pm
Rating ***
Whats it about:It was London in the swinging sixties with the streets abuzz with Beatles impersonations,women in bright tent dresses,rock-and-roll cabarets and dodgy,smoke-filled nightclubs. In 1969 two Australian hippies,John Rendall and Ace Bourke,arrived in Kings Road,and in hot pursuit of the hedonistic life,bought an African lion cub from Harrods. When Christian the cub outgrew the basement of Rendall and Bourkes Chelsea furniture store they had no choice but to let him loose-into the wild. This is their story and the story of their,by turns,playful,painful and poignant friendship with a lion.
Whos in it:The documentary rallies back and forth between visuals of Christians life with the dapper,long-haired,ruddy-faced Rendall and Bourke and sound bytes from the various people in Christians life including Derek Cattani,the photographer who recorded Christians early life and Virginia McKenna,the actress in Born Free,who introduced Rendall and Bourke to lion expert and ex-husband of Joy Adamson who wrote the famous Born Free books,George Adamson,who trains Christian for the wild.
Whats not:The narrative,at times,seems flat. With such stunning visuals,the story could have been narrated in a much more powerful manner. Punctuating the storyline with a fitting soundtrack,for example,might have worked wonders.
Should you be watching it: As the 50 million viewers on YouTube whove watched Rendall,Bourke and Christian wrestling with a ball and roughing it out in a vast field will attest,theirs is a friendship you can watch and vicariously derive pleasure from.
