lakerbob-24240 Obviously years in the making, this film covers a necessary and optimistic phenomenon of returning the wild to the wild. With a humanistic approach as to the impact on both the wild elephant and it's human keeper. Just a beautiful film. We get to follow the kind of life this captive elephant has been forced to live and the challenges of the human who cares for the elephant. Their partnership for the human's business, adds depth to the human side. The elephant's seeming willingness to cooperate for the enterprise, and the eventual release of the elephant back to the wild. The optimistic results of releasing the elephants back to the forest is uplifting.

Ashley Melsted When Elephants Were Young is an absolutely stunning film that captures the complex relationship between elephants and humans in Thailand. It takes you through an emotional journey of how we're connected to these magnificent creatures through the true story of Wok and his elephant Nong Mai as they walk the streets of Bangkok street begging. As we follow their story, the issues facing the survival of Asian elephants as a whole are addressed revealing the serious need for conservation. If you want to learn more about the plight of elephants in Thailand through the power of a true story, I can not recommend this movie enough. Anyone that watches it will feel a burning need to help the elephant conservation movement in any way possible.

rylee-postulo This is a documentary film about the unique relationship between elephant and man in the Asian elephant industry. It exposed many conflicts that are currently occurring in Thailand with elephants. I felt happy,sad, and anger all throughout the movie which to me means that it was a movie while worth watching. I feel like I have learned so much more about elephant tourism in Asia that I would not have learned if I had never seen it. This is a great movie if you are contemplating whether or not to see elephants while traveling to Thailand. It lays out all the facts and provides insight.I highly recommend watching When Elephants Were Young.

joanne-ca This documentary, about the endangered Asian elephant in Thailand, profiles the reality facing a young elephant, Nong Mai, who her owner, Wok, has pressed into illegal begging on the streets of Bangkok. Insight into the threats to the Asian elephant population unfolds alongside the tragedy of seeing the day-to-day grind and pain of Nong Mai's captivity. Loss of habitat (95 percent of Thailand's forests have been harvested and replaced with urban centres or rice fields), poaching for ivory, elephant tourist shows and illegal street begging have so seriously undermined wild elephant populations that they are considered a threatened species. The film also points out the decisions and actions taken by the Thailand government, and conservation organizations, to protect and regenerate the Asian elephant population - which is also a powerful means to regenerate lost forest. When Elephants are Young is powerfully informative and is sure to prompt anyone who watches the film to take part in helping to conserve the wild Asian elephant population in the variety of ways offered.