Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

White Lion Blu-ray Movie Review

This unusual family film should appeal to all nature lovers.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 24, 2011

Anyone who’s experienced the completely different world of a Studio Ghibli film knows how utterly unique a different country’s sensibility can be when it comes to crafting films, even films which more or less fit into a standard genre. Part of Miyazaki’s allure to so many is that he so effortlessly defies convention and refuses to give in to the Americanized three act, hero vs. villain rut which way too many movies fall into. Something of that same idiosyncratic spirit is alive and well in the charming, if extremely unusual, South African (live action) film, White Lion, a film that harkens back to fictionalized nature movies like Born Free while giving enough up close and personal, and often jaw dropping, nature photography to make it seem like something out of a Planet Earth episode or one of the old Walt Disney True Life Adventures series. This is a film with very slight ambitions which nonetheless is completely involving and even moving, as it tells—almost entirely via narration—the story of a white lion cub named Letsatsi who sets out on his own after having been banished by his own pride due to his unusual color. Playing out against Letsatsi’s adventures is the story of tribal youth Gisani, the son of the tribe’s healer, who is out to find the legendary white lion in order to bring back peace and prosperity to his tribe. One of the unusual elements of White Lion, and probably the one major factor that will perhaps keep it from jumping to the top of parents’ wish lists, is that virtually the entire film is related as a story told by an elderly African man to a bunch of assembled youth. This same framing device has been used repeatedly in film—one thinks especially of Korda’s version of The Jungle Book with Sabu—but here, there is virtually no dialogue even after the main story gets underway. Instead, we’re greeted by one stunning scene after another, with occasional bridging “storytelling” narration thrown in to keep us on track. If you can get past that atypical filmic device, there is a lot to love about White Lion, a film which mixes heart with its own fairly subtle environmental message, and which should delight younger kids especially.

White Lion defies easy categorization, as there is no outright villain in the piece, despite Letsatsi having run-ins with poachers and, later in the film, a hunter who has arrived in Africa specifically in pursuit of bagging a white lion. But that in fact is part of this film’s charm. Once the shackles of ordinary film tropes have been thrown off, the viewer is set free to simply sit back and enjoy an Incredible Journey (so to speak) of Letsatsi reaching adulthood while encountering a number of dangerous situations, including other unfriendly lions, marauding warthogs, persnickety porcupines, vicious hyenas and a crocodile or two.

What sets this film so completely apart from other recent family fare is the absolutely jaw dropping scenery we’re greeted with, as well as—and there’s no other way to state this—the performances of the animals. This is a Blu-ray that screams out for a commentary track to inform the viewer as to how various shots were managed, and the brief Behind the Scenes featurette included as an extra only fills in so much. Suffice it to say these were not trained animals, which makes the final product all the more remarkable. There were several lion wrangler on-set, including Kevin Richardson who gets the chief producing credit here as well. Richardson must have the magic touch, because all of the lions in the film—and Letsatsi himself must have been played by no fewer than three at various ages, by my count—turn in flawless work. Director Michael Swan also stages things magnificently, with some amazing tracking shots of Letsatsi running through the veldt and with reaction shots to various plot points that simply must be seen to be believed.

While there’s certainly a through line here—the narrator informs us the Shangaan consider white lions are earthly “stars,” heavenly beings sent as messengers of the Gods, thus Gisani’s quest to find one to help his tribe—that backstory really isn’t necessary to enjoy the film, which by its very nature is episodic. In fact from a dramatic standpoint, the slow collision of Gisani’s story with Letsatsi’s may be the film’s weakest element. Gisani takes a job as a tracker for an African hunter who then of course offers a client of his the chance to bag a rare white lion. What’s really of greater emotional import here is Letsatsi’s own story, as silly as that may sound. But within the context of this magnificently filmed opus, the adventures of a little white lion growing into adulthood seems very real indeed.

This film took home several South African equivalents of the Oscar, and it’s not hard to see why. This is one of the most sumptuously filmed pieces in recent memory, with one absolutely gorgeous vista after another, and just enough amazing animal photography to keep things constantly surprising. White Lion may in fact have worked better without the perhaps needless framing device (parents are going to guess who the narrator is a long time before it’s revealed), but the narration itself is sparse enough not to be too intrusive. What’s really effective here is the visual narration, which Richardson and Swan handle effortlessly. This is a film which truly exploits the visual medium to its fullest. Aside from the occasional narration and constant underscore, White Lion has the same sort of visual acuity that highlights the best of the silent film era, when everything you needed to know was on screen to see, without any additional fuss or bother. Swan also manages to stage even the necessary killing and feasting sequences with a minimum of gore and gruesomeness, keeping the film well within the bounds of family friendliness. I hear from a lot of parents that aside from Disney-Pixar, there just isn’t a glut of innovative fare out there that will entertain kids and adults alike. My advice to them, and to you, is to check out White Lion.

White Lion Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

White Lion features a stunning AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. There's only one minor problem with this transfer, and thankfully it does little to detract from the overall excellence of the Blu-ray presentation. That problem is occasionally fleeting digital noise across some of the heavily verdant topography the camera passes over, typically in aerial shots. If you can look past those very minor problems (and they are very minor), this is simply a gorgeous looking film (it won the South African equivalent of the Oscar for cinematography, and it's not hard to see why). Fine detail is simply amazing here, especially in the outstanding close-up shots of the lions and other animals which populate Africa. But the landscapes here are equally impressive, with jaw-dropping depth of field, lovely, gorgeously saturated colors and just an incredibly sharp picture which seems to almost literally open a window on the "Dark Continent." This is a film to be enjoyed as much as a travelogue as it can be for its inherent storyline about Letsatsi and Gisani, and on those terms alone, this is a stellar Blu-ray release.

White Lion Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

White Lion's lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix may be subtle at times, but it's very immersive and involving, and fully brings to life the amazing sounds of the African veldt. The weird hypnotic laughter of hyenas erupts from the side channels as the trumpeting of elephants overruns the sub-woofer and rear channels. Birds flit to and fro and create sonic diversity all around the listener. Some of the effects sequences, as in a fire started by a lightning strike, are viscerally exciting and downright scary. The ubiquitous underscore is well mixed, if occasionally cloying, but the overall sound design here is marvelously rendered, with excellent fidelity and really expressive dynamic range.

White Lion Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Behind the Scenes (SD; 16:27) is an interesting featurette showing how Richardson wrangled the lions, but this film really could have benefited from a feature length commentary track which could have provided contextual information on how individual scenes were accomplished.

White Lion Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you're a parent looking for something unusual to share with your children, or if you're a Planet Earth fan "Jonesing" for a new fix of nature photography, take a chance on White Lion. The film is unusually structured, with a narrative element that may be off-putting to those more used to the American emphasis on dialogue and action, but, oh, what imagery there is in this film. Highly recommended.