me-75905 Well, you'll probably know the whole story before viewing the film for the first time, these days, and yes it is a true yarn, give or take the odd liberty.However, for a 1966 film, the film is around 30 odd years behind its time. Acting is so wooden, and amateurish. the script is frightfully dull, its oral expression clipped, and frightful and boring, and repetitive. Only the animals are natural performers here.Read the book - it's better!

michaelbartos Born Free has an interesting post colonial undertone of 1960s Kenya. Elsa the lion symbolizes the British controlled colony and the white settlers in Kenya (Joy and George) symbolize the British who realize that it would be wrong to free Kenya/Lions without proper training and preparation to survive in the real world. It is very revealing that the white people in the film are the ones who know how to train the lions and take care of them and the blacks in the film are basically followers and do not have the ability to raise and care for the animals. We see the same logic in the history of colonization. White Europeans realize that only THEY know what is best for Africa and the Africans are simply expected to follow. And what's the deal with George and his malaria??? Not sure what the purpose is in bringing that up. The trailer is hilarious!!! They keep saying the lions live in the jungle!!! I think that was to appeal to the audience ignorant of Africa--probably most Americans in the 60s did think Africa was one big jungle.

TheLittleSongbird Even if the film does drag in spots, I cannot deny this film is beautiful, heart warming, charming touching and poignant. I also think it is one of the best animal films out there, very few animal films have touched me like Born Free has. Born Free is beautifully shot, with gorgeous African scenery(the film is based in Kenya) and stunning cinematography. The film is also brilliantly scored by the wonderful John Barry with a simply unforgettable title song, and the direction is surprisingly sensitive by James Hill.The performances are also first-rate. Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers are both wonderful and bring real warmth to their roles while Geoffrey Keen is wonderful as the kindly commissioner. But there is no doubt in my mind that Elsa steals the show here, she is simply adorable and just melts my heart with her presence. And maybe it is just me but I can barely fight back my tears as she is reluctant to take her first steps back into the wild.Overall, Born Free is quite simply a beautiful film. 9/10 Bethany Cox

jbartelone Born Fee may be the greatest and most beautiful animal film ever created! It is the true story of Elsa, the lioness whom a Kenyan couple, George and Joy Adamson, raise as a cub, take in as a pet, when George is forced to shoot Elsa's Mother in self defense as she charges at him. Shortly afterword, George leans that the reason why the Mother lioness tried to attack him, she was protecting her cubs.The Adamson's take in the entire liter of three cubs and grow very attached to them. When the cubs are on the screen, the emotional bond that the viewer feels is unforgettably blended with the beautiful backdrop of Africa scenery. Filmed in Kenya, where the real story happened, the Cinematography and music are spell-bounding! You really feel drawn into the lives of the couple and the lion cubs, and especially Elsa! Joy becomes most attached to Elsa, the smallest of the liter. When the other cubs become too difficult to manage, in a heartbreaking scene, they are sent to a zoo. George and Joy decide to keep Elsa. However, as she matures, the couple's friends and villagers become concerned, because Elsa has been frightening off villagers and livestock. The couple are dedicated and determined that Elsa would never be happy in a zoo or any other captivity environment, as Joy through tears says, "She was born free, she deserves to live free!" The couple than must do what has never been done before. Take Elsa from a domesticated pet and train her how to be wild. They spend hours, months, teaching her how to hunt, deal with conflict, and courtship. This film tags at the heartstrings big time, because there are scenes where she chases the truck after they are forced to leave her alone for the first time and she starts chasing the truck. Or the heartbreaking scene where she comes back to George and Joy's camp starving or hurt because she hasn't yet learned how to take care and hunt for herself.Finally, after Elsa kills a warthog, the Adamson's learn that she can be on her own. The movie ends with George and Joy reuniting with Elsa and her own family of cubs in a beautiful mountainous, hillside view, with the unforgettable title tune by Matt Monro that will send emotional chills up your spine and bring tears to your eyes. This is a landmark film that is flawless! A beautiful film for families and children to learn about the importance of kindness to animals and the difficulty that it can take making a wild animal into a domestic pet.Tragically, the real Elsa only lived about five years. She died of what appeared to be a severe tick disease similar to what is called "animal malaria." The work of Joy and George Adamson's devotion to protecting and preserving animal life remained for many years after Born Free. They showed that animals were just as important to be card for and loved as humans and that human contact and compassion with them can create a bond, lasting a lifetime.However, in 1980, Joy Adamson who was known to be very forceful and demanding with her camp staff, was tragically found stabbed to death near her camp. Originally, authorities belied that she had been mauled by a lion, but the autopsy reports showed that her wounds were not consistent with an animal attack. The story is that a disgruntled worker, alleged that Joy had not paid him for two weeks, and they got into a fight. He alleges that Joy shot at him but no evidence has surfaced to support this. Angered over not being paid, he stabbed her to death and was sentenced to life in prison, escaping the death penalty by hanging,since Joy's attacker's age could not be proved, the judge sentenced him to life in prison.George Adamson suffered a similar tragic fate when in 1989 he was shot to death by poachers who were attacking a tourist who had been visiting him. George was able to save the life of the tourist, in an incredible heroic effort for an over 80 year old man! However, George himself did not survive the shooting. In news that shattered hearts around the world, both he and Joy died terrible, painful, and senseless deaths.However, their love and devotion to animal preservation and support was so internationally impacted, that many wildlife preservation societies today are a result of their work. Film stars Virgina McKernna and Bill Travers, the real-life British couple (the real life Adamson's were not British) who portrayed the Adamson's in the movie helped establish the Born Free Preservation Society in 1984. Working with the Adamson's on the set of Born Free so moved Virgina and Bill that they continued to work with helping wild animals. Bill did it for the remainder of his life and Virgina is still active in wildlife preservation to this day.Born Free, is a movie, an experience, and a song, that will move you for the rest of your life!