Available to view on Vudu (Updated Sept 2022)
One night in modern Bangkok will not make any member of the native Thai tribes heralding their mammoth pet around the streets humble after watching When Elephants Were Young. This documentary made by local filmmakers Patricia Sims and Michael Clark, and narrated by William Shatner is excellent at showing how these creatures should be treated with respect instead of used. People revere this gentle beast, but sadly, they view the old traditions without truly understanding the native culture that once accepted keeping them “as pets.” Bob Dylan’s song, “The Times They Are a-Changin’” is one way to sum up the how the film moves and this film nicely reveals where attitudes are headed.
World Elephant Day (August 12, 2016) is championing preventing the Asian elephant from going extinct. Large steps are being made by the government to see the animal get saved. Ever since they got domesticated for warfare during Ancient Greek times, if not used in jungle warfare in India, their relationship with man has been an uneasy one. Are they working animals, creatures to be paraded around in zoos, or what? This film looks at their roles in human society today, focusing specifically in the relationship Wok, a mahout (elephant guardian), has with Nong Mai, an elephant he’s taken care of for at least a decade. He’s part of the Kui tribe and they have to adapt to modern times.
Continue reading “[VFF ’16] When Elephants Were Young, Their Role in Asian Societies, A Review”
The 
McDull: Me & My Mum
The past few years have been nothing but a bumper-crop of comic book films. There’s a few one-off’s which are kind of fun, and for the big two, Marvel and DC, just which one will I start to love more? This year will definite it! The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is going to hit a milestone with one of the comicdom’s pivotal moments getting a movie treatment, and the DC cinema realm will finally give rise to the Justice League.
Welcome to Wind up Geek’s predicted best of for October, 2015. You may notice my selection of films is a bit lop sided for this month. After sorting through trailers from many countries Japan appears to come out on top. It doesn’t mean that other films can’t compete it just means Japan has some very cool films for the month of October. And if you live in one of the major Japanese cities, I urge you to check them out. If you don’t live anywhere in or near Japan, you’ll just have to purchase the films when they are comercially available (as I do).