Two Brothers [DVD] [2004]

Guy Pearce plays the 'great white hunter' character of McRory, a world-famous hunter-explorer of European origin and fame, a known author as well as second-class Indiana Jones, looking for what will sell back in the London auction houses -- he changes from animal skins and tusks to statues and antiquities. There are no other actors of wide fame, but all do a good job, from the Westerners in the French Indochine to the locals, from tribal persons to high potentates. All seem to have reasons to be against the tigers, save a few, who eventually come round and help the tiger brothers through their troubles.

The real stars of the film, of course, are the tiger cubs Kumal and Sangha, in addition to the other tigers, including the mother Tigress and the great Tiger Father. The lead trainer, Thierry Le Portier, a fellow Frenchman to Annuad who worked on 'The Bear', and trainer Randy Miller stated that 30 tigers in all were used, and one of the biggest efforts was to have tiger cubs available -- they grow so rapidly, they might not be the same size over the course of shooting. In the end, the effects and training were magnificent, and given the kinds of harrowing treatment the tigers were to have received (usually, thankfully, just off-screen), one truly hopes the 'no animals were harmed in this production' pledge at the end was in earnest.

The plot is a twisty one, following the two tiger brothers who are separated early, and each have different adventures (not all of them nice, and many downright disturbing) until they are reunited in a festival, when they are able to recapture their kinship and their brotherly playfulness. The movie has the obligatory happy ending; I was on the verge of tears from frustration and sorrow at different points of the film, but the only time I actually did shed a tear was as the sunlight pierced the tell-tale marker on one of the tigers (and those who see the film will understand this, but I don't want to give away the ending).

The settings in Cambodia and Thailand are natural settings, still undisturbed jungles in many areas, and the temple settings as the home of the tiger family is a wonderful device. The Angor Wat Temples, now very popular tourist destinations, had to be closed to such traffic during the filming. The music is dramatic and playful as appropriate, but very much in the background; rarely did I notice the music for the visuals.

A wonderful film in many ways, it is a statement for humane treatment of animals. Unfortunately, this sometimes involves disturbing scenes of mistreatment, which again makes this a film not for young children. Parental discretion and previewing is advised.

'A few years ago 50,000 wild tigers roamed free. Now there are less than 5000'