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What it's about:
According to the legend of the Shangaan, white lions are the messengers of the gods, but it has been years since one has been seen in their remote African valley. When a white lion is miraculously born into that valley, a young Shangaan named Gisani, finds himself destined to protect this rare and magnificent creature at all costs.
This young lion, whom will be known as Letsatsi, is cast from his pride and forced to embark upon a perilous journey of survival. Close to starvation, Letsatsi befriends Nkulu, an older lion and together they learn how to survive in the harsh African wilderness Gisani, who is watching over Letsatsi, takes a job as a tracker with a local hunter, who has his sights set on leading the hunt for this rare and magnificent white lion. Gisani, guided by fate, believes that he must find a way to prevent this tragedy from happening.
What we thought:
There is every reason to see this magnificently produced South African film. With a cast of lions raised at the Johannesburg Lion Park, White Lion is a true passion project by the owners, Rodney and Ilana Fuhr and director Michael Swan.
Narrated by SA screen legend John Kani, the story is told in rich, dramatic detail that encapsulates the majesty of the country's natural beauty, the significance of story-telling as a means of educating the youth about protecting the splendor surrounding us, and is a universal coming of age tale that just happens to feature a rare white lion as its main protagonist.
Far from being a nature documentary, White Lion is an edge-of-your-seat movie that is by turns thrilling, tragic, funny and wholly triumphant. The animals, in particular the cast of tawny lions who play Letsatsi at various stages of his development, are a thing of stupefying beauty. If these creatures, so majestic and at ease in the natural habitat, do not steal your heart from the moment you first lay eyes on them, then you probably didn't have one to begin with.
Go and see this film on the big screen, and be sure to take your family along. Proudly South African has just taken on new meaning.
Watch the trailer
