Duma (Widescreen Edition)

For me, Duma is the best of Carroll Ballard's films, and it has become one of my personal favorites of all time. Shot on location in Botswana, this film is truly - in the words of Manohla Dargis of the New York Times - "soulful, piercingly beautiful."Coupla things......the film claims to be based on the book "How it was with Dooms" by Xan Hopcraft and Carol Cawthra Hopcraft. (I purchased the book shortly after I saw Duma for the first time a few years ago. This book deserves a read, it is absolutely fantastic, but I can no longer get the version that I have which is a beautifully bound paperback in color. If you order the book on Amazon it will be the black and white version and it is awful. You would need to order it through Barnes and Noble, they have the color version but it is poorly bound.) It is the true story of a family who live on a farm outside of Nairobi and adopt an orphaned cheetah they name "Dooms". He is so tame he chooses to live with them until his death years later. Xan writes his memoir of growing up with Dooms who is already part of the family when Xan is born. His recollections are through the eyes of a young boy. It is precious, and the photos are astounding.The film, Duma, is inspired by the book, but they changed most of the story. The family lives on a farm in South Africa, and Xan is 12 when he and his father adopt an orphaned cheetah cub they find by the side of the road one night. Duma lives with them until he is almost full grown. Most of the film is the story of Xan's long journey with perilous adventures through the African landscape - which includes crossing the Okavango River - taking Duma back to where they found him so he can live the life he was born to. Along the way Xan meets a wanderer named Ripkuna and his Bush Baby, and they share the adventures together. The cinematography is exquisite, and Ballard's touch makes you feel as if you are right there, nuzzling with Duma, keeping lions at bay with a good fire, racing through the rapids to beat the crocodiles, or just cruising down the river in the canoe at sunset, catching glimpses of hippos, elephants and giraffes.Campbell Scott appears briefly in the beginning of the film as Xan's father. The true stars of the film are Alexander Michaletos who plays Xan, Eammon Walker who plays Ripkuna, and Anthony, the cheetah. Recently I Googled Michaletos and discovered that he grew up at The Farm Inn in Pretoria, South Africa, a hotel and wildlife sanctuary with 23 species of animals, so he was perfect in the part! They even have a cheetah breeding program there -- and Anthony! Guests can visit with Anthony and have their photos taken with him! He's tame as toast. You can find the Inn on Facebook.Amazing what a little movie can do. Duma has not only brought me, my family and many of my friends a lot of joy as a film, we are now planning our own adventure to travel 8,000 miles to visit The Farm Inn and Anthony in the next year!

Great movie for young , and old. It’s one of my favorite. I watched this with my children and grandchildren! Two thumbs up!!!

Absolutely marvelous movie!

Good movie

Duma is on my personal list of favorite movies, I love it! It's also my favorite Carroll Ballard film. I love The Black Stallion too but love this one a little more. Duma is one cool cat! Love to watch him run. Perfectly clean film with nothing inappropriate (just an off screen death and the sadness associated with that). I liked the friendship that develops between Xan and Rip. This film has a charm about it that I love; like the scene toward the end of their journey together where Rip rests his hat on Duma's head resulting in them both cracking up laughing! The scene with Duma running alongside the motorcycle is also done beautifully. My daughter loved this film and most likely, so will your kids.

I bought this movie in a desperate attempt to find anything cheetah at the request of my 8 year old. I expected her to love it because she loves everything related to cheetahs. After reading previous reviews, the entire family ended up watching the movie, and we loved it. The story follows a young boy who loses a close family member. Not wanting to lose one more thing he loves, he goes on an adventure to save his pet cheetah. I use the term pet loosely. It is a story about learning who you are, discovering your self worth, and learning the importance of family. I can't believe I had not heard of this movie prior to my random search on Amazon. This is a movie that all should watch! It did not get the recognition and promotion that it deserves!

Love this story! I had a copy years ago when my son was very little. It was a favorite adventure story! Lost the copy and decided to add it to our library again, even though my little son is off on his own adventures now. With so many shows and movies offered to kids these days that have trash in them, this one is clean. Very well done and feeds a child's imagination that they can be adventurous, too!

I remember I saw this movie when I was 10 years old, it was in blockbuster video. I did not know much about the movie, my mom just told me to pick a movie, and I liked the cover. But years later it stayed in my memory. Every time I went to blockbuster video I got this movie. This beautiful movie even a 10 year old could understand and enjoy. All these years later I decided I needed to find it and buy it. And so I did. And this movie will probably be one of my favorite movies. Age had nothing to do with it, if anything I could enjoy it in early elementary school and now in my last years of high school. Now I'm waiting for it to arrive in the mail so I can watch it again after all these years.

L'amitié entre l'enfant et Duma et après avec l'homme africain. Tous les 3 des films formidables en un service formidable de vous amazon.fr !!!!

Der zwölfjährige Xan lebt zusammen mit seinen Eltern auf einer Farm in Südafrika. Als er eines Abends zusammen mit seinem Vater die Landstraße entlangfährt, überquert plötzlich ein Gepardwelpe die Straße und sein Vater kann gerade noch rechtzeitig bremsen und ausweichen, um es nicht zu überfahren. Wohl wissend, dass der Welpe alleine hier draußen unmöglich überleben kann, nehmen die beiden ihn mit auf ihre Farm. Fortan bekommt der ohnehin schon sehr verantwortungsbewusste Xan die ehrenwerte Aufgabe ihn aufzuziehen und für ihn zu sorgen. Schnell wächst aus dem anfänglich kleinen und süßen Welpen ein großer und bildschöner Gepard heran, der mittlerweile auf den Namen Duma hört, was auf Suaheli Gepard bedeutet. Duma verhält sich gegenüber seinen Mitmenschen und seiner Umwelt allerdings nicht wie ein gefährliches Raubtier, sondern eher wie ein lieber, teuer und völlig ungefährlicher Hund. So entsteht beim Zuschauer vor allem innerhalb der urkomischen Situationen, dass Duma selbst im ausgewachsenen Zustand häufig abends zusammen mit seinem Herrchen im Bett schläft oder tagsüber mit ihm Fußball spielt, der Eindruck, dass ein Gepard vielleicht sogar eine richtig gute Alternative zu einem ganz gewöhnlichen Haushund sein könnte.Auch Xans Vater findet großen gefallen an dem prächtigen Tier, weiß aber als erfahrener Farmer, dass Dumas Platz langfristig nicht in einer Familie sein kann, sondern draußen in der Natur sein muss. Schweren Herzens macht er eines Tages seinen Sohn darauf aufmerksam, dass die Zeit gekommen ist, Duma wieder in seine Freiheit zu entlassen. Xan fällt es aber unglaublich schwer sich von seinem liebgewonnen Freund zu trennen, und sucht unzählige Argumente dafür, dass Duma weiter bei ihm bleiben darf. Wenig später wird das Leben des Zwölfjährigen allerdings von einigen sehr schweren Schicksalsschlägen heimgesucht, und es kommt nicht nur für ihn, sondern auch für seinen Freund Duma alles ganz anders wie geplant.Was dabei passiert, und welche gefährlichen Abenteuer auf den Zwölfjährigen innerhalb des Filmes warten, und ob er seinem Freund am Ende tatsächlich die Freiheit schenken kann, möchte ich jetzt allerdings nicht verraten.Duma - ist ein faszinierender und lehrreicher Abenteuerfilm, der vor allem mit exzellenten Nahaufnahmen, sowie den alltäglichen Gefahren der Natur, und einer authentischen Geräuschkulisse eine ganz außergewöhnliche Geschichte erzählt, und dabei die positive Botschaft vermittelt, dass das Loslassen, bzw. das Loslassen können, eine der größten Formen der Liebe ist.

For someone who loves Cheetah, this movie is perfect 👌

チーターが好きな者にとってはとくにたまりません。心がとても忙しい。愛おしかったり心配したりハラハラしたり怒ったり辛かったり嬉しかったり。最後は、安心した… どういうふうになるかと心配でしたが、好きな者の気持ちをちゃんと汲んでくれている終わり方と思いました。そして、薄っぺらなストーリーかと心配する必要はありません。伝えたいメッセージがちゃんとあります。少年は旅の途中、色々な仲間に出会います。映像的にもよく撮れているし盛り沢山大満足です。動物好きにはあっという間の2時間？でした。ますますチーターが恋しくなって辛い…

C'est un cadeau à beaucoup plus à la personne à qui il a été offert. Très belle histoire pour grands et petits.Merci amazon pour la livraison très rapide.