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ccording to Shangaan legend the white lion is sacred – a messenger from the gods. In this particular tale (which has been translated into a film script) it’s been years since a white lion has been seen in close proximity to a remote African village and now, miracle of miracles, a white cub has appeared.
A young shangaan, Gisani, rescues the cub from predators and fully aware of its value makes it his mission to protect Letsatsi with his life.
However precious the cub might be to the Shangaans, he is an outsider when it comes to the pride and he is forced to live on the periphery of the pack. Hunting has never been his strong point and he is close to starvation when he encounters an older lion, Nkulu, and actually makes a friend. His greatest challenge and that of his self-appointed protector Gisani is still to come… to escape from a trophy hunter.
‘White Lion’ is no animated Disney picture, instead the filmmakers have brought reality to the tale by using live lions in an authentic African bush setting. Amazingly, there’s one particular shot which is particularly reminiscent of ‘The Lion King’.
Cinematography
And when it comes to shots – filmmaker Michael Swan is one of South Africa’s most acclaimed cinematographers and 2nd Unit Directors (ref catalogue 30th Durban International Film Festival).
According to the production notes the shooting was “staggered in phases to accommodate the lions” and took “a substantial period of time”. At times shooting with two or even three cameras the edit had to be planned to capture all the material needed to tell the story – as ‘animals won’t do exactly the same thing more than once’.
“To an extent it was laborious, but also very rewarding,” says Michael. “This movie is predominantly about lions, not people, so it needed to be image dependent. Therefore, from the word ‘go’ we knew that the imagery would be all-important.”
The filmmakers shot on a high definition digital format. “We opted for that instead of 35mm,” adds Michael, “because we were shooting an enormous amount of footage – up to five hours of material per day. Translating that to film would have been enormously expensive, so we saved money there, which gave us the freedom to concentrate on the material needed without worrying about the cost of the stock”.
‘White Lion’ releases nationwide this weekend. It’s a bitter-sweet tale which at times will have you close to tears, but well worth seeing as an outing for the whole family. To book your seats click through to www.sterkinekor.com or www.numetro.co.za
For more information about the film visit www.whitelionthemovie.com |
