Trophy Movie Review

“Trophy” is a study of balance. It is the balance of nature vs. man. Is it the balance of conversation vs. natural resource usage. It is the balance of animal rights vs. the ability to hunt big game. It is a question asked, and the answer is elusive. Many endangered species may be lost forever, but large funds are collected by groups to allow hunters the permits they want. These funds are used to protect the animals in their habitat, while only allowing a few to be hunted.

The documentary focuses on several groups of people. There is a big game hunter from Texas who wants the ability to hunt in Africa. And he is willing to pay top dollar for that privilege. There is a South African rhino breeder who has many hundreds of the animals. His groups will go out and regularly saw off the horns of the rhino, to prevent the animal from being poached and killed only for the horn. There is a wildlife officer in Africa who wants to prevent illegal trade in rhino horn and ivory. But many people in his back country can only exist of what they take from the land, including some endangered animals.

The film-makers travel to various parts of the world to explore themes in different places. There is the rhino farm in South Africa. There is a guided hunting safari in Namibia. There is a crocodile farm in Africa, and a Las Vegas convention that brings in all the major players in the big-game hunting industry. There is a lot of details to catch during the documentary. Sometimes a brief rundown is put up on the screen, a contrast of the number of animals in this year to another year. It is quick, but it is a fascinating way to see how the process of the endangered species came about.

The photography was very beautiful, since much of it was in the outbacks of Africa. There were a few very well-composed shots taken from overhead (from an airborne drone?). These shots are like viewing the landscape from God’s perspective, and they quite amazing. There are the normal ‘day in a life’ segments and the ‘sit down for an interview’ segments, and these are good. There is a couple of times where it looks like two opposite sides are going to have a loud confrontation, but these never do pan out to anything. One of the Wildlife officer guys starts talking with some animal right activists, and it gets a little heated.

Occasionally, the ‘pay for play’ hunters are shown to be a little too goofball. A little too much of a ‘hold my beer while I shoot this elephant’ type of thing. There probably are some who do behave that way, but it seems that all of them have spent quite a bunch of money to do just that. Also, that money then provides conservation methods and helps the local impoverished economy. The hunters are the not the bad guys in this picture, or at least, they shouldn’t be only bad.

This situation is a matter of life or death, to the animals that might become extinct. But man does have a role to play. By keeping the poachers at bay, and by bringing as much cash into the conservation of the animals – the right balance might be reached. “Trophy” does not say exactly where that balance lies. It lets the viewer think about what is best for the planet.