THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS 1996
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1997 Timothy Voon
1 :-) for the big, furry cats
Cast: Val Kilmer, Michael Douglas, John Kani, Tom Wilkinson, Bernard Hill, Brian McCardi, Om Puri, Emily Mortimer Director: Stephen Hopkins Screenplay: William Goldman Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond
'The Ghost' and 'The Darkness' are two man eating lions who share everything. They have a cool lions' den where they collect human skulls; they like feasting on railway workers; they watch the other's behind for snipers; and their attacks are both co-ordinated and organised. Any Lion psychologist will tell you that the behaviour of these lions is aberrant. Man eating lions usually hunt alone; they don't go around killing for pleasure; and they don't collect human trophies of their victims. So we are left with the scenario of serial killer lions, terrorising the subjects of the British Empire in late 19th century, outback Africa. Sounds like a promising documentary-thriller when it's all based on fact.
One begins to wonder half way through the movie, why two male lions share such intriguing intimacy, and an unexplainable understanding of each other. Is there perhaps something more 'sexual' behind this 'buddy-killer' relationship than meets the eye? I guess we'll never know, now that their heads are mounted in some British museum; but an interesting National Geographic thesis may have been 'The Mating Habits of Two Male Lions - The Ghost and The Darkness.'
Things heat up in Africa when the lions go on a killing spree on the tracks. Precious minutes tick away in the race to trans-rail the African continent. Kernel John Patterson (Val Kilmer), the British supervisor assigned to complete building a bridge in this race, becomes increasingly annoyed and baffled by these lions. The pressure mounts as co-workers, doctors and surveyors all wait to be feasted on.
Enter Mr Charles Remington (Michael Douglas), lion hunter extraordinare. Sent to stop the blood bath caused by Lion Fever. He becomes good buddies with Patterson; the result is an amazing on screen parallel drawn between the two hunters vs the two lions. However, the relationship between Patterson and Remington remains purely platonic, but the same can't be said about these two intriguing, raunchy lions. GROWWWWWL!
Timothy Voon e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
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