The Ghost and the Darkness

So I'm not entirely sure this movie had much of an impact on me when it first came out: I definitely did not see it in the theatre, but certainly shortly afterwards when it came out on video. It was solid, don't get me wrong, but there is no way I could foresee the urge I would experience in wanting to see it, time and again. It certainly doesn't help the situation when my good friend seems to adore it and talks about it occasionally; it's like it comes out of the darkness and bam, you're reminded of this movie and the passionate way he talks about it forces me to watch it again. Every time I revisit the film, the more I appreciate it: I really think they nailed this film on many levels, making it timeless.

For those of you who don't know, or have simply forgotten (it was 1996, after all), this movie is about an engineer (Kilmer) named Patterson who is building a bridge in Africa. Shortly into the project, two lions start attacking the small camp/settlement, throwing fear into the workers. The two lions, the ghost and the darkness, seem to operate at a different level than your normal lion: they hunt man, they hunt together, and they seem malicious about it. They kill and terrorize, even when they are not hungry. The blood lust has settled in, for sure, but something else could be going on here too. They almost seem intelligent, and for a time, as I watched this the other night, I got thinking about evolution. Cats are smart, for sure, but can they be this smart? Perhaps some mutation that has given these two in particular an edge, and introduced something that seems limited to the human race so far: villainy. These lions are just jerks. So after a threatened walkout, the company brings in a revered expert hunter (Douglas), to bring an end to the lion menace. I won't spoil the rest for you.

What we get is a pretty interesting, and true story. Apparently these events did happen, and the two lions were killed in the end (ok, spoiled) and are on exhibit at Chicago's Field Museum (they may have been moved to Africa since). I was there just two years ago and don't remember seeing them, but there's a good chance I glazed over them like I did most of the exhibits (the fossil and rocks sections were the best). But this is great: apparently the only thing that was 100% fictionalized for the film was Douglas' hunter character: Patterson was so bad ass in real life he killed the lions on his own. He went on to write a series of books about them, which could have easily been exaggerated, but they seem to be the best accounts we have to go on. It's estimated these two lions killed a hundred or more humans in a relatively short amount of time. We see a cave full of human bones and remains in the film, and the horror should set in as this is not behaviour of lions we come to expect.

Either way you point it, the film is addictive and features a good cast: a young and trim Kilmer, a sufficiently gruntled yet wise Douglas and the rest: Tom Wilkinson, Emily Mortimer, Bernard Hill and more. Actors you just see in things all the time now. I don't feel like they tried to make things too deep here: one scene gets a little cheesy but it's kept pretty basic. You get a little taste of life back in 1898, and when you step back to think about it, the railroad really was epic.

Mahina: You know, I also have killed a lion.
Angus Starling: How many shots did you need?
Mahina: I used my hands.