Culture

Directed by: Keith Scholey and Alastair Fothergill, (4/5).

Disney Nature’s African Cats is outstanding; think David Attenborough combined with The Lion King. The exquisite naturalness of the African savannah and its exotic inhabitants render digital animation and manipulative cinematography superfluous. The feline stars, Mara the lion cub and Seta the mother cheetah, lead the audience through the pride lands as they respectively learn and teach the skills required to survive in their volatile habitat.
 
African Cats portrays approximately a year in the life of two families of cats. Mara is the daughter of Leila, the lead lioness in the River Pride of lions, a tight-knit family unit lorded over by Fang. Seta is a solitary cheetah who gives up her individual lifestyle to raise her five cubs and teach them how survive and fend for themselves. Through these two central and occasionally intertwining story lines, the multitude of animals that call the African plains home are introduced, not as individuals but as members of a society, a community not as unlike our own as people might think.
 
The brilliance of the story line is a result of its realism. Nature is beautiful but harsh and African Cats encapsulates both of these elements. It breaks each of these elements down, moving from the big picture of the land itself and the ecosystem in its entirety to the movement of the water in the river or the ripples of the muscles in a prowling cheetah’s back.
 
Through the narration, provided by Samuel L. Jackson, a simple directive story line is given to the film. Instead of simply observing the animals, we follow them on the continuous adventure that is their existence. The narration provides continuity and connection, making the documentary accessible and exciting for anyone of any age. It was as if the animals were talking to you themselves, a lick becomes a statement of affection and a paw to the face a bit of harmless teenage banter.
 
African Cats not only entertains but it educates, using nothing else but the elegant simplicity of the world we too often take for granted.