In the Kenyan bush, a small-time ivory dealer fights to stay on top while forces mobilize to destroy his trade. When he turns to his younger cousin, a conflicted wildlife ranger who hasn’t been paid in months, they both see a possible lifeline.
This story follows X, a fearless, well-respected man in his community who hunts elephants and sells their tusks to the black market. With the constant lure of quick money, poverty attracts the practice of elephant poaching as a means of supporting families. Ivory can bring in nearly $2,000 USD and many sell it internationally as the demand is high. Knowing the practice is wrong, X continues to hunt because he refuses to struggle to feed his family. As he ignores the constant outrage over the media regarding the dangers of poaching and the need to protect the tradition and culture of the country, he does seem to show some compassion describing the elephant screams too painful for him to bear and because of this, he hires a skilled hunter named Lukas to do all the killing.
Admitting to having killed over 40 elephants in one day, Lukas brings them down by shooting them with an arrow containing a poison so powerful it can paralyze a 7-ton animal. And even though they have tried, the government has been unable to trace the poison back to him. The elephants can be heard miles away and the rain brings them out by the pack making it the best time to hunt. Rangers put their lives in danger to protect the elephants and sometimes die at the hands of poachers. While many struggle to feed their children on low job wages, the rangers also struggle, sometimes going months without pay but still showing up to work each day.
As it becomes more difficult to hunt elephants, X begins to experience the same financial difficulties as other families. His cousin, who is a ranger, knows of his activity but never turns him in. As he struggles with his family, going months without pay, he refuses to poach elephants for money. X watches as his cousin sticks by his values even at the cost of hurting his family and learns through him what it means to be honorable and just even when things are bad. By the end of the film, we see X evolve into a man who decides to do the right thing and becomes a ranger, now protecting the elephants instead of killing them.
This is an amazing film that draws attention to the declining elephant population due to the illegal practices of poaching. It also demonstrates both sides of the struggle and how two different men decide to deal with them. Thankfully, the law enforces imprisonment for ivory trafficking and this has forced poaching practices to decline and I hope it continues.
Opens in NY and other select markets Friday, December 6th
