A new South African documentary reveals a remarkable story of survival in the midst of a rapidly escalating rhino poaching epidemic, which threatens the species with extinction.
If the title of the documentary, Saving Rhino Phila, reminds you of Steven Spielberg’s devastating World War II drama, Saving Private Ryan, it’s no coincidence.
Phila is involved in her own private war – she was targeted by poachers on two separate occasions and shot multiple times, yet somehow pulled through. Her traumatised owner has placed Phila in a zoo in a desperate attempt to keep her safe.
Commissioned by Natural History Unit Africa (NHU Africa), Saving Rhino Phila was conceived by Oloff Bergh and Anton Truesdale of Triosphere.
The film features a number of heart-wrenching interviews with Phila’s owner, her vet, her self-appointed “protector’ and another rhino owner who has seen a number of her beloved rhinos poached.
A fair proportion of the film comprises thriller-like dramatic recreations of poaching, showing the sophistication and military-like precision of rhino poaching syndicates.
Triosphere producer Kira Ivanoff describes Saving Rhino Phila as a passion project. “It’s one of those rare opportunities where a group of filmmakers invest themselves emotionally in a film for a cause that is close to their hearts and the outcome is of global importance.
“Having defied death on two occasions, Phila is the ideal heroine to carry the story of the rhino poaching crisis to the world and buying into her story emotionally was something that none of the crew could avoid. She stole our hearts and fuelled our passion to make a film that would reach into the hearts and minds of an international audience that was possibly oblivious to the crisis and not necessarily the usual “wildlife fanatic’ viewer.’
Vyv Simson, NHU Africa commissioning editor adds: “Rhino poaching is a hugely important issue but it’s always very difficult to make a film about an issue rather than a story. This project had all the ingredients – the story of one rhino’s survival interwoven with a number of human stories.
“Our goal was to make the film as dramatic and theatrical as possible to grab people’s interest. The film’s nomination for a Panda Award at Wildscreen encourages us to think that we’ve succeeded and we hope broadcasters will agree.’
The scourge
It was during 2010 when the rhino poaching scourge was hugely prominent in the media that Bergh and Truesdale decided to create awareness of the problem through film.
Says Bergh: “Anti-poaching films are generally issue driven and tend to feature a bunch of khaki-clad people with epaulettes chasing a faceless enemy, and as such very difficult to sell to international networks. We stumbled on Phila’s story when news broke that she had been shot a second time by poachers and survived. This presented the ideal opportunity for us to draw attention to the onslaught against rhinos in general, by telling Phila’s personal story in the mould of Saving Private Ryan.
“We approached NHU Africa and were delighted that commissioning editor Vyv Simson had the vision to see the film’s potential. It was very important to Vyv that we produce a film to appeal to international audiences. He was adamant that it remain Phila’s story – as we had originally pitched the project – and not end up an amorphous rhino poaching chronicle.’
Once Simson green-lit the project Bergh and Truesdale brought in director Richard Slater-Jones.
“We knew Richard would bring sensitivity to the project and add a theatrical element that would appeal to international audiences,’ comments Bergh.
According to Slater-Jones the challenge was that television viewers don’t want to be bombarded with issues. “That’s why I chose to present the film in such a way that audiences will engage with the tough subject matter. The film had to be driven by a strong narrative – Phila’s story.
“However, the problem was that most of Phila’s story happened in the past so I had to tell it in a gripping way. Oloff (Bergh) and Anton (Truesdale) originally pitched the film to NHU Africa in a “movie-istic’ manner so we knew from the outset that we would have to do dramatic recreations.’
Reconstructions
As he was working with a standard TV documentary budget, Slater-Jones initially toyed with the idea of doing stylistic, arty recreations. He continues: “This was because our film had to compete favourably with big budget Hollywood action films. In the end I decided to go more literal and pulled together an excellent team to ensure that our recreations would stand up.
“The crew included director of photography (DOP) Michael Cleary and assistant director Barry van Zyl, as well as sparks and gaffers. We shot everything in five days. It was a very intense but fantastic experience.’
Ivanoff comments that logistically it was nothing short of a miracle that the impossibly tight schedule worked out for the crew. “I put it all down to a “dream-team’ of crew who invested themselves emotionally, physically and professionally beyond the call of duty: Richard’s clear and captivating vision of the scenes, Mike’s ability to capture them so exquisitely on film, and David James’ incredible acting brings the rhino poaching villain to life.
“We had 3.30am call times every freezing morning, long hours in the heat and dust and death-defying aerial manoeuvers in the chopper.’
The Phantom high speed camera, operated by Graham Cooke, was brought in to add a “wow’ factor. Cleary shot on the Canon 5D while Dale Hancock and Alex Sletten shot on Triosphere’s Panasonic AJ HDX900 cameras. The helicopter was helmed by Frank Molteno.
This was the first time Slater-Jones had directed drama so he wrote a “visual script’ for the recreations and storyboarded some scenes. Using information from the interviews and police ballistic reports he created the most likely scenario.
The recreations were shot at Nash’s Farm in Mulderdrift and Modimolle in Limpopo, in the actual boma where Phila was shot.
Making the cut
Editor Kathy Pienaar had an 11-week post-production schedule, cutting on an Avid with Unity at Triosphere.
“Through Phila’s story and the dramatisations we aimed to carry the viewer through all the conflicting issues. It was wonderful to cut the drama scenes because they’re very action-oriented. However, the second time Phila was shot by the poachers was very emotional for me. Sadly, the rhino poaching epidemic has got so much worse since we made the film.
“This is a film that you feel can make a difference – I don’t think anyone can walk away from it without being affected in some way,’ concludes Pienaar.
By Joanna Sterkowicz
Screen Africa magazine – August 2012
