The Ghost and the Darkness

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The Ghost and the Darkness
Image:Ghostandthedarkness.jpg
Directed by Stephen Hopkins
Produced by Grant Hill, Michael Douglas, Paul Radin
Written by William Goldman
Starring Val Kilmer
Michael Douglas
John Kani
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography Vilmos Zsigmond
Editing by Roger Bondelli, Robert Brown Jr.
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) October 11 1996
Running time 109 min
Language English
Budget $55,000,000
IMDb profile

The Ghost and the Darkness is a 1996 Oscar-winning film about the Tsavo maneaters, two lions who attacked the builders of the Uganda-Mombasa Railway in 1898, killing about 135 of them, and the subsequent hunt to kill them. The attacks, which took place in Tsavo, Kenya, were recounted by Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Patterson in his book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo.

The film, although based loosely on Patterson's account, romanticises his story and fictionalises important elements of the plot. William Goldman's script introduces Michael Douglas as the American big game hunter Charles Remington. In reality, Remington was not an American, but was rather an Anglo-Indian named Charles Ryall. In the movie Remington kills one of the lions but is later killed by the second lion before Patterson finally dispatches the beast. Many Maasai characters in the film were actually portrayed by South African actors, although the Maasai depicted during the hunt were portrayed by real Maasai warriors who were hired for the movie.

The film was shot mainly on location at Songimvelo Game Reserve in South Africa rather than Kenya due to tax laws. The main lions featured were two male lions with manes. They were brothers named "Caesar" and "Bongo" (deceased), who were residents of the Bowmanville Zoo in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, both of whom were also featured in George of the Jungle. The film also featured three other lions - two from France and one from the USA. The real man-eaters were, like all lions from the region, a more aggressive, maneless variety. Those used for filming were actually the least aggressive available, for both safety and aesthetic reasons. The man-eating lions shot by Patterson in Tsavo in 1898 are now on display at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois.

The film won an Oscar in 1996 for Sound Editing.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Sir Robert Beaumont, the primary financier of the railroad project, is furious because his railroad is not being completed on schedule. He has sought out the expertise of Patterson, a military engineer, to get the project back on track. Beaumont tells Patterson himself that if he doesn't get the bridge built on time, he will use all of his power and influence to destroy him personally.

Patterson travels to the outpost station, where he is enthusiastically greeted by camp supervisor Angus Starling. When they arrive in Tsavo, Starling introduces Patterson to the first team supervisor, Samuel (the movie's narrator). Samuel is one of the few men at the work site who is respected and trusted by everyone. Patterson also meets the camp's doctor, David Hawthorne, who tells the colonel that he's brought back luck with him. The doctor shows him a man who was attacked by a lion. The colonel assures the doctor that he will "sort it out". That night, Patterson kills a lion using only one shot. This raises the camp's morale. But the dead lion was not man-eater, which is realized after the half-eaten body of a worker is found the next morning.

Patterson, Starling, and Samuel find the lion feeding on another dead worker and are about to kill it when another lion attacks and kills Starling. Both lions escape. Beaumont, who has come to Africa to find out why the railroad is not making any progress, says he will contact a big game hunter known as Remington to get the job done. Patterson attempts to trap the lions in a box car, but the workers who are supposed to kill the lions are too scared to do it properly.

Remington arrives, bringing with him some skilled Maasai warriors to help hunt the lions. The men spend all night preparing themselves for the hunt. The hunt goes badly when a rifle that Patterson borrowed does not shoot. Remington and Patterson take up a watch in the camp's hospital, which they have cleared of patients and doused with blood in an effort to lure the lions. However, the lions attack the new hospital and kill both the patients and Doctor Hawthorne.

Patterson and Remington at last successfully track the lions to their den, which they find filled with hundreds of human remains. The next evening, Patterson and Remington wait on wooden platforms high in the trees, hoping to attract the lions with a captive monkey tethered to a pole on the ground. They succeed in killing one lion and celebrate by getting drunk. As they sleep, Remington is killed by the remaining lion. Patterson decides to burn the tall grass surrounding the camp to rob the remaining lion of its place to hide.

Patterson and Samuel are soon attacked by the beast on the bridge. They manage to climb into a tree, but are followed by the lion. Patterson eventually makes it to his rifle and shoots the lion. At the end of the film, Patterson greets his wife and son at the Tsavo station. The final moments of the film have Samuel explaining that the lions are now on display at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois and that even today "if you look into their eyes, you will be afraid."

[edit] Cast

Actor/Actress Role
Val Kilmer Col. John Henry Patterson
Michael Douglas Charles Remington
John Kani Samuel
Tom Wilkinson Robert Beaumont
Om Puri Abdullah
Bernard Hill Dr. David Hawthorne
Brian McCardie Angus Starling
Emily Mortimer Helena Patterson

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

de:Der Geist und die Dunkelheit fr:L'Ombre et la proie it:Spiriti nelle tenebre pt:The Ghost and the Darkness

Retrieved from "http://india.smashits.com/wikipedia/The_Ghost_and_the_Darkness"
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