Born Free (1966)

From the age of three to eleven I lived on the Island of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. There was no TV there and my visual entertainment came through magazines, my favorite of which was National Geographic. At the age of nine or so I remember how excited I was to read and see pictures of Joy Adamson and the saga of returning her adopted lion, Elsa, to the wild.

I got to see the movie when it came out, by which time we had moved to Washington DC so my dad could do research for the war books. I hope you find it as interesting and moving as I did. - JW

Married couple George Adamson and Joy Adamson have long lived in northern Kenya for George's work as the senior game warden of the region. One of George's primary responsibilities is to deal with dangerous animals that may be chronically threatening to humans, livestock and/or crops. It is in this vein that George and his staff end up killing a man eating lion and its lioness, resulting in their three young female cubs being orphaned.

Although difficult to begin, George and Joy are able to wean and take care of the three cubs, who they adopt as pets. But soon, they know they have to provide a more suitable environment for the cubs, namely sending them to Rotterdam Zoo... that is except for the smallest, who they have named Elsa and to who Joy in particular has become attached as the emotional fighter among the three.

As Elsa grows into lioness maturity, George and Joy provide her with greater freedom away from their property, which may get her into trouble as a largely tame animal. Ultimately, John Kendall, George's boss, directs them to send Elsa to a zoo like they did with her sisters, especially as with anyone in George's job he is soon being reassigned.

Joy cannot bear the thought of Elsa being locked up for the rest of her life, believing that they can reintegrate her back into the wild instead, something that had never been done with a tame lion. John gives them three months to accomplish this task, which most specifically involves getting Elsa to be able to kill for food, other creatures which up to this point she has seen only as fellow playthings, and to be accepted by other lions, most specifically mate with and provide food for a male partner while standing up successfully to female competitors.

From IMDB|

10/10
Superbly Filmed and Acted! Very Moving Movie and Amazing Song!

Born Fee may be the greatest and most beautiful animal film ever created! It is the true story of Elsa, the lioness whom a Kenyan couple, George and Joy Adamson, raise as a cub, take in as a pet, when George is forced to shoot Elsa's Mother in self defense as she charges at him. Shortly afterward, George leans that the reason why the Mother lioness tried to attack him, she was protecting her cubs.

The Adamson's take in the entire liter of three cubs and grow very attached to them. When the cubs are on the screen, the emotional bond that the viewer feels is unforgettably blended with the beautiful backdrop of Africa scenery. Filmed in Kenya, where the real story happened, the Cinematography and music are spell-bounding! You really feel drawn into the lives of the couple and the lion cubs, and especially Elsa! Joy becomes most attached to Elsa, the smallest of the liter. When the other cubs become too difficult to manage, in a heartbreaking scene, they are sent to a zoo. George and Joy decide to keep Elsa. However, as she matures, the couple's friends and villagers become concerned, because Elsa has been frightening off villagers and livestock. The couple are dedicated and determined that Elsa would never be happy in a zoo or any other captivity environment, as Joy through tears says, "She was born free, she deserves to live free!" The couple than must do what has never been done before. Take Elsa from a domesticated pet and train her how to be wild. They spend hours, months, teaching her how to hunt, deal with conflict, and courtship. This film tags at the heartstrings big time, because there are scenes where she chases the truck after they are forced to leave her alone for the first time and she starts chasing the truck. Or the heartbreaking scene where she comes back to George and Joy's camp starving or hurt because she hasn't yet learned how to take care and hunt for herself.

Finally, after Elsa kills a warthog, the Adamson's learn that she can be on her own. The movie ends with George and Joy reuniting with Elsa and her own family of cubs in a beautiful mountainous, hillside view, with the unforgettable title tune by Matt Monro that will send emotional chills up your spine and bring tears to your eyes. This is a landmark film that is flawless! A beautiful film for families and children to learn about the importance of kindness to animals and the difficulty that it can take making a wild animal into a domestic pet.

Tragically, the real Elsa only lived about five years. She died of what appeared to be a severe tick disease similar to what is called "animal malaria." The work of Joy and George Adamson's devotion to protecting and preserving animal life remained for many years after Born Free. They showed that animals were just as important to be card for and loved as humans and that human contact and compassion with them can create a bond, lasting a lifetime.

However, in 1980, Joy Adamson who was known to be very forceful and demanding with her camp staff, was tragically found stabbed to death near her camp. Originally, authorities belied that she had been mauled by a lion, but the autopsy reports showed that her wounds were not consistent with an animal attack. The story is that a disgruntled worker, alleged that Joy had not paid him for two weeks, and they got into a fight. He alleges that Joy shot at him but no evidence has surfaced to support this. Angered over not being paid, he stabbed her to death and was sentenced to life in prison, escaping the death penalty by hanging,since Joy's attacker's age could not be proved, the judge sentenced him to life in prison.

George Adamson suffered a similar tragic fate when in 1989 he was shot to death by poachers who were attacking a tourist who had been visiting him. George was able to save the life of the tourist, in an incredible heroic effort for an over 80 year old man! However, George himself did not survive the shooting. In news that shattered hearts around the world, both he and Joy died terrible, painful, and senseless deaths.

However, their love and devotion to animal preservation and support was so internationally impacted, that many wildlife preservation societies today are a result of their work. Film stars Virgina McKernna and Bill Travers, the real-life British couple (the real life Adamson's were not British) who portrayed the Adamson's in the movie helped establish the Born Free Preservation Society in 1984. Working with the Adamson's on the set of Born Free so moved Virgina and Bill that they continued to work with helping wild animals. Bill did it for the remainder of his life and Virgina is still active in wildlife preservation to this day.

Born Free, is a movie, an experience, and a song, that will move you for the rest of your life!

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