The Wolf and the Lion Parent Guide

Alma (Molly Kunz) feels adrift in the world after the death of her grandfather. While trying to decide if she should return to music school in the big city or settle back into her childhood home on an isolated island, an answer falls out of the sky – literally. It comes in the form of a baby lion who has been stranded in a tree after the plane he was aboard crash landed in a forest. Alma just happens to be wandering through the woods when the cub tumbles, and lands in her arms. Unable to resist its helpless cries, Alma takes the bundle of fur back to the cabin – along with a sense of having found an anchor for her life.

Then, as if one orphan isn’t enough, Alma also finds herself playing host to a she-wolf who brings her little one into the house. Apparently, the skittish wolf feels safer under the shelter of Alma’s roof than in the wild where she is being harassed by an overzealous conservationist (Charlie Carrick).

Despite the serious doubts and strong warnings of her godfather (Graham Greene), Amy defends her decision to keep the trio because the arrangement seems to be working well. The two youngsters get along like brothers, despite being a feline and a canine, and the mother is happy to nurse them both. But all good things come to an end when the white wolf doesn’t come home one night, and Alma finds herself as the only caregiver. Now she is faced with a growing problem…

If the situation sounds a bit implausible, that is because it is a carefully crafted scenario designed to allow French film director Gilles de Maistre to explain his personal views on animal abuse. That is also why the script is populated with uncaring wildlife protection officers, a cruel circus master and bumbling scientists.

For viewers with similar sympathies, it may be easy enough to overlook the manipulative message, cardboard characters and predictable plot – especially when the images of cute and charming critters provide an enjoyable distraction.

I was willing to forgive most of these flaws too, despite the closing comments condemning humans for interfering with the wellbeing of animals – until the I read the onscreen epilogue.

Instead of being comforted by the assurance that the wolf and lion depicted here are friends in real life and are promised to live out the remainder of their days in the company of one another, I was suddenly swamped with several ethical questions. Hadn’t I just watched this duo grow up together? The two of them couldn’t have accidentally been paired up. So, did the movie makers choose a couple of baby animals and intentionally raise them together? If so, that would pretty much ensure that these creatures, like the characters they portray in the story, would mature in an environment of so much human interference that they would never be able to return to the wild. It didn’t take much digging to discover indeed, that is exactly what had happened. (See RivieraBuzz: The Wolf and the Lion: Peeking Behind the Scenes of the New French Blockbuster.) Somehow it is hard to applaud a movie that doesn’t practice what it preaches, even if it is done with the good of the cause in mind.

About author

Donna Gustafson

Donna Gustafson has been involved with her husband Rod's work since the beginning. Handling many of the behind-the-scenes tasks, she also creates preview pages for up-coming movies, acts as managing editor and occasionally writes reviews.