Wildcat: Deeply moving

Wildcat (2022) • View trailer

4.5 stars (out of five). Rated R, for frequent profanity and suicidal behavior

Available via: Amazon Prime

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 1.13.23

I marvel at the foresight and intuition of documentary filmmakers who begin a project without having any idea if they’ll ultimately emerge with a story worth telling.

 

Co-directors Trevor Frost and Melissa Lesh definitely found such a story.

 

Although attempting to teach his feline companion how to survive in the wild is
exhaustive work that requires plenty of patience — and love — Harry also enjoys
their more playful moments.

Wildcat is a remarkably powerful film: not merely for its fascinating and thoroughly engaging subject, but also for its constant tug on our senses, and the often painful intimacy with which this saga unfolds. Impossible as it would seem, the two people at the heart of this incredible journey often behave as if they’re wholly unaware of being filmed, except when they address the camera directly.

The setting is so beautiful, so hypnotic, that it’s almost surreal. At first blush, it feels romantic: tugging at that little piece of ourselves that sometimes wishes to really, truly get away from it all.

 

But that’s deceptive.

 

Frost and Lesh begin their film with a brief prologue, as a man navigates a jungle setting with — amazingly — an attentive young ocelot that apparently regards him as a parent.

 

We then back up to earlier days, and the events that led to that moment.

 

Young British soldier Harry Turner returns home from a tour in Afghanistan, emotionally damaged by what he has seen — and done — and crippled by PTSD. Suicidal, believing himself a burden to his parents and younger brother, Harry flees civilization and heads to the most remote part of the world that he can reach: the Las Piedras region of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest.

 

He chances upon American biologist/conservationist Samantha “Sam” Zwicker, founder of a non-profit dubbed Hoja Nueva (“New Leaf”), which is dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and reintroduction of keystone Peruvian Amazon wildlife species.

 

It’s a necessary response to the heartbreaking reality of young animals orphaned and abandoned, after their parents have been slaughtered by hunters and logging operations.

 

This film begins with Zwicker’s earliest efforts, when it’s not even clear whether an infant ocelot can be re-wilded; nobody has tried before. Frost and Lesh understood the time frame, going in: reintroduction, if successful, would take roughly 17 months … the length of time a kitten would spend with its mother, until setting out on its own.

 

Which makes their film, at minimum, a 17-month investment of time and effort.

 

Harry’s arrival is cathartic; the challenge gives him a sense of purpose. He throws himself 24/7 into the care, guidance and protection of this adorably wild kitten.