Ross Kauffman’s (“Born Into Brothels” and “E-Team”) haunted and harrowing new documentary about one of nature’s most majestic and deadly creatures, “Tigerland,” gets off on rocky footing. The film starts with a strange monologue from a child-narrator about the splendor of tigers and how they once dominated the lands they roamed and how they’ve since been pushed to the edge of extinction. Then, when what becomes an engaging and thoughtful narrative about the efforts to protect the now-endangered species and those who are fighting for them does finally begin, it’s hard to ignore the World Wildlife Fund logos and titles most of the principal characters carry. The timing, in light of a damning exposé from BuzzFeed about allegations of torture from WWF-funded forest rangers and the organization’s efforts to cover them up, is less than fortuitous for Kauffman’s evocative film. So, while “Tigerland” stands on its own feet and delivers a startlingly poignant emotional journey — especially for one Russian conservationist — the film is shaded by the recent revelations.
Bound together by the looming presence of the tiger, “Tigerland” follows two men: Russian conservationist for the WWF Pavel Fomenko and Indian conservationist Amit Sankhala. At the heart of the film is their respective journeys into their work and the day-to-day labors they put into saving these creatures. As a student, Fomenko was afforded the opportunity to travel to Russia’s far east to study tigers and found his calling. Sankhala, the grandson of famed tiger conservationist Kailash Sankhala, was more or less born into a family legacy of protecting the big cats. These men, thousands of miles apart, working in wholly different terrain and adhering to different laws, are connected through the tiger. “Tigerland,” however, takes a few beats to really smooth out this connection. The film vacillates back and forth awkwardly a few times before the ties seem clear and worthwhile and before it is even clear that their work will be the backbone of the narrative.
What is, for most of the length of “Tigerland,” the most fascinating part of the film, are the tigers themselves. The film abounds with hard-to-stomach scenes of dead and mutilated tigers, tigers that were poached or mistreated in inhumane zoos. And there are plenty of the caged cats prowling their enclosures. But Kauffman’s film is far more sly with its wild tigers — a choice that pays off nicely. “Tigerland” is not “Planet Earth,” its footage is not the sort of glossy, removed shots that capture the animals in their natural glory. And, in many ways, it is a better film for it. “Tigerland” doesn’t revel in the creatures, the footage is decidedly personal, as though the film itself is surprised to have managed a glimpse. There are nervousness and twinges of fear. It’s hard not to be thrilled.
The film pivots in the third act, though, and becomes a far more emotionally complex and engaging personal narrative. Fomenko, after spending weeks attempting to safely capture and relocate a female tiger and her cubs who were killing local dogs, is brutally mauled. His shoulder is bitten through and his face and head are torn to the bone by claws. Where he was once a man so thoroughly enamored with tigers and their raw power, he is now unnerved and emotionally haunted. Watching him travel back to visit the tigers, to face the predators who nearly killed him, is harrowing and deeply affecting. It’s hard not to feel as though there is a whole other movie in Fomenko’s tragic story. Before the attack, he was a larger than life personality, a gregarious bear of a man, but after, his face permanently scarred, the anguished look in his eyes is hard to shake.
By it’s close, it is easy to have forgotten the pall of the WWF scandal that should rightly cloud the film. Which says more about “Tigerland” and the well-intentioned people that inhabit the film than it does about the troubling allegations. In a way, the film serves as a reminder of the good work and passionate people laboring under the WWF banner. In another way, “Tigerland” is entirely its own thing. Sure, many of the film’s personalities sport WWF titles, but the stories told throughout are their own. Their journeys are personal, their triumphs and failures and pains and desires to see the magnificent tiger freed from mankind’s violence are all personal. And “Tigerland” does these men (because they are, for the most part, men) and their stories justice. But, above all, “Tigerland” pays respects to that awe-inspiring creature at its core. [B]
