REVIEW: ‘Cheetah Children’ captures challenges of growing up
There may be no better nature program on TV than Nature on PBS. For years, this series of documentaries has been exploring the many facets of planet Earth, and one of its latest specials, The Cheetah Children, continues the program’s winning streak.
Running a little less than one hour, like most Nature specials, The Cheetah Children finds cameraman Kim Wolhuter following a family of cheetahs in a Zimbabwe game reserve. When the story begins, there’s a mother and five newborns. When the story ends, death has struck the family unit in this unforgiving terrain.
Throughout the documentary, the themes of loss, perseverance and coming of age are discussed, each accompanied with beautiful footage of the animals in their wild habitat.
There’s little anthropomorphizing in The Cheetah Children. Instead, the camera team and narration focus on the day-to-day realities of being a cheetah in this southern African country. There are the challenges of finding food (the family takes down an impala every other day), and the difficulties of disease, biting ants and menacing lions.
Throughout the drama, Wolhuter and the team are able to receive unbelievably close access. There is one scene when the cheetahs are hunting, and Wolhuter is essentially walking within a few feet of their crouched-down journeying.
Nature doesn’t pull the camera away when the going gets rough for the cheetah family. They definitely make successful kills on the impala, and they also face difficult-to-watch obstacles. Watching an animal mother lose a child is gut-wrenching — a real “Circle of Life” moment.
The Cheetah Children features some of the best cheetah footage on film, and the access to this family unit for more than a year is both appreciated and revelatory. For one hour, audience members are able to live the fast life with these majestic cats.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Nature: The Cheetah Children is now available on DVD from PBS. Click here for more information.
