ONE LUCKY ELEPHANT
Directed by Lisa Leeman
Produced by Cristina Colissimo & Jordana Glick-Franzheim
Written by Leeman & Colissimo
USA. 84 min. Not Rated
 

In the heartwarming but clear-eyed documentary One Lucky Elephant, the title pachyderm, Flora, has lived most of her life as the lead attraction of the Flora Circus run by David Balding. David considers Flora a close family member ever since he adopted the orphaned elephant in the 1980s, but he senses that starring in a circus is no longer a life for the elephant: she no longer wants to perform. But returning her to Africa is out of the question since she would never survive in the wild after spending so much time with human companionship. David explores other options to remove Flora from the confines of the circus ring, but those options are limited.

Like the circus, the zoo is not a good fit for wild animals, especially a five-ton elephant which needs room to roam. There’s an elephant habitat in, of all places, Kentucky, and it’s run by a close friend of David’s, but she only accepts Asian elephants (apparently Asian and African elephants do not get along). So David decides to take Flora to the Miami Zoo, which will accept her into their elephant habitat.

Director Lisa Leeman unobtrusively perceives the contradiction at the heart of her film. David’s adoption of Flora, although humane and justified at the time, contributed to the dilemma she’s currently in. She’s stuck in the middle between the tame life she has led with humans and the wild life she needs, but is ill-equipped to handle.

David’s blind devotion to Flora is also a cause for concern, which comes to the fore when he leaves her at the Miami Zoo and Flora stomps on and seriously injures a worker. David calls it an “accident,” like an earlier incident recounted by both the elephant’s circus trainer and the victim, a woman, who, after being thrown to the ground from a tree by Flora, had broken several ribs. Although there were extenuating circumstances (David was not there and strangers should not have been allowed near Flora in his absence), David’s belief in a 10,000-pound wild animal’s “innocence” reveals that he’s fallible and, well, human when it comes to making decisions about an animal he loves.

With admirable doggedness, the director spent 10 years filming Flora and David, from Flora’s final circus appearance in 2000 through David’s selfless attempts to find someplace which would allow her the freedom she needs. By chronicling Flora and David’s ultimate separation in a sympathetic but unsentimental way, One Lucky Elephant perceptively recognizes how our treatment of wild animals in an increasingly overcrowded world has real-life consequences—not only for our emotional well-being, but for the animals’ very survival. Kevin Filipski
June 8, 2011