People are voting emotionally.

Excellent but underrated film

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Maybe if they used different tag lines to advertise this movie, it would have greater appeal. While all of the above is true, it was a small part of a wonderful film about George Adamson (Richard Harris) and Tony Fitzjohn (John Michie).Those familiar with Born Free know about Adamson. This film is about his life in Kenya after wards, and the relationship with Fitzjohn, who went on to do the same work in Tanzania.It has a documentary feel throughout and absolutely stunning cinematography as they interact with the lions in the bush. It is sometimes bloody as the natives revolt, and the battle between men and animals will get your blood boiling, especially when Terrence (Ian Bannen) discovers his precious elephants destroyed by ivory poachers.A film for all animal lovers, and an outstanding performance by Harris.

This is a great film, but it is badly let down by poor directing and a very stilted performance by John Michie. Richard Harris plays George Adamson to absolute perfection and Ian Bannen is equally marvellous as his brother Terence, but John Michie is just too suave to be convincing. Its also distractingly jerky in parts almost as if the director couldn't decide if this was to be a film about George Adamson or about Tony Fitzjohn or a film that explored their relationship. Perhaps he had hoped it would do all three, but instead it just highlights the difference between a great actor at the height of his powers and someone who looks good in shorts, wastes the talents of Honor Blackman and gets a PG-13 certificate when it could have had equally as much impact and a greater potential audience as a G with very little effort.

All I can say about this movie is...wow! Its a fascinating retelling of the later years in George Adamson's incredible life. Richard Harris is a spitting image of the ageing Adamson and the supporting cast (particularly the late Ian Bannen) are excellent. There is nothing to fault with this film....an absolute classic! Its criminal why this film suffered a very limited release. Hopefully it will do a Shawshank Redemption and enjoy the praise it deserves, now its out on video.

Richard Harris gives a brilliant performance as George Adamson, the leader of an African Lion Preserve. Battling poachers and the threat of losing his land, Adamson maintains his mystical relationship with his Lions in his efforts to retrain these orphans to survive in the wild. There is no doubt that Harris is the much older Adamson, the teacher and student of these magnificent animals.The acting is great. The storyline follows all too familiar relationships between the men and women and are quite predictable. Despite that I highly recommend this film.