THE ELEPHANT IN THE LIVING ROOM → On Demand Weekly

THE ELEPHANT IN THE LIVING ROOMAugust 24, 2011

Gravitas

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: THE ELEPHANT IN THE LIVING ROOM (Gravitas).

THE ELEPHANT IN THE LIVING ROOM
My kitten is bigger than yours… but I love him just as much.
By Cynthia Kane

Statistics tell us right away in the opening of THE ELEPHANT IN THE LIVING ROOM that the U.S. is home to over 15,000 exotic animals – as pets. That’s right - most of these wild animals are not living in zoos: lions, tigers and bears… oh my! And chimpanzees and cobras and pythons and alligators and vipers and cougars and elephants and well, you name it.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE LIVING ROOM is the story of these animals, these so-called pets and those who love them unequivocally, but sometimes, and sometimes is the all-too important word here, don’t really know how to care for them.

It’s a controversial subculture in our society, raising dangerous animals as common household pets. Unregulated – for example, your lion doesn’t need a license unlike your, say, corgi -, not quite illegal, but dangerous and sometimes deadly.

Director Michael Webber travels across the United States meeting these ‘pet owners’, allowing them to tell their stories, encountering their animals, traveling with hidden cameras to the under-the-radar trade fairs that sell these creatures, and following state and local officials who have to catch the runaways, those that get loose in the neighborhood or say, for example, an overpopulation of Burmese pythons run amuck in the Everglades.

The heart of Webber’s doc takes place in the Midwest. Here we meet Tim Harrison, Executive Director of Outreach for Animals whose job as a public safety officer is to protect both the exotic animals and people. After having served as a police officer, firefighter, and paramedic in Oakwood, near Dayton, Ohio, he has often been called to rescue wild and dangerous animals in suburban settings and has been consulted for his expertise on the national as well as state level.

“You don’t have to go to India to see a tiger or to Africa to see a lion”, he shrugs.

“You can go to any town, USA.”

One day Harrison is called about a runaway lion, seen strolling down a highway. It’s Lambert, one of the two pet African lions owned by former truck driver Terry Brumfield. After an accident left him disabled, Terry suffered from crippling depression until a buddy gave him the lion cub who grew up to be Lambert.

It’s not a secret that pets offer companionship and comfort; often relieve depression, filling the void. And Lambert did more than fill the void. Later Terry adopted another, a female, Lacy. On this particular day in question, Lambert was just able to get out of his fenced in “cage” and made his way across the highway into a very frightened neighbor’s yard.

It takes awhile for Terry to realize Tim is not against him, but is valiantly trying to find a real solution for his big cats. It’s then the family suddenly gets bigger. While confined in an old trailer in Terry’s rural back yard, as Tim and his team are building a stronger outdoor pen, Lacey gives birth to four cubs. You’d think Terry had just become a grandfather his pride is so great. His love swells with Lambert and Lacy’s litter.

Webber’s film gives balance and voice, allowing both sides to argue their case. Yet something about this is astoundingly tragic. Often frustrated, Tim Harrison points out to us, these stories rarely have happy endings. We humans in our need to love and be loved force a lot of non-animalistic traits on animals, however well-meaning. But is this fair to the animals, these animals who are not, never meant to be domesticated?

Never sensational, and surprisingly never judgmental, THE ELEPHANT IN THE LIVING ROOM is always compelling to watch, a must-see for passionate animals-lovers. It leaves one with much food for thought: what might not be so good for the wild animals might not be so good for their people either.

- Cynthia Kane

Cynthia Kane reviews documentaries for On Demand Weekly. She is a writer and Sr Programming Manager for [ ITVS], overseeing the International Initiative for funding in their SF office. Prior she’s had many incarnations from actor to writer to producer. She co-created DOCday on Sundance Channel.