POACHER ON NETFLIX BY Tom Whitworth and Davina Leonard

Reviewed by Margaretta wa Gacheru (August 2020)

Elephants used to populate the entire African continent. Now they are among the most endangered species in the world, apart from the myriad species of birds, insects, fish and now, thanks to COVID 19, even human beings who are dying by the thousands every day.

But it was the plight of elephants that inspired the Kenya-born actor Davina Leonard and film director Tom Whitworth to co-write the script for ‘Poacher’, the 28-minute docudrama that just made it to Netflix this past week.

The 2018 film is well worth watching. But one imagines that if Leonard and Whitworth had more funding, ‘Poacher’ would have been the gripping opening scene of a film that fleshed out the back-stories of not just the wicked practices of ‘international terrorist’ poachers (like Maina Olwenya) who are equipped with machine guns and Land Rovers.

It would have also developed the characters of peasant farmers (Brian Ogola and Shiviske Shivisi) whose crops are ravaged by these hungry mammals, driving Mutua (Ogola) to endanger his own life by stealing one of the terrorists’ cars and precious ivory tusks in the process.

We would have also gotten to learn more about Nicole (Davina Leonard) whose passion for protecting elephants compels her to not just pilot helicopters to go on daily surveillance missions looking for poachers, but also to jump from her copter to chase one would-be poacher, Mutua, armed with a gun and machete in each hand.

And even the Kenya Wildlife Service staff are characters you would have liked to know better. They are played by some of Kenya’s finest actors, including Lenny Juma, Peter King and Mwajuma Belle among others.

Despite my biggest complaint against ‘Poacher’ being its brevity, I admit I was drawn into the film immediately, first by the soundtrack of bird songs and savannah brush, then by the brief texts telling us how the ivory trade could lead to elephants’ extinction by 2040, and finally by Brian Ogola whose character’s distress is palpable. You want to know why he’s got a bow and arrow, why he finds spent bullets near his home, and how he’ll help his wife (Shivishi) and sick child.

It’s Nicole’s reckless pursuit of the would-be poacher that turns an ordinary wildlife film into a thrilling action adventure. It is she who sees Mutua from the air and communicates with her KWS ground forces. But they are far away, so she impulsively lands and literally runs after the guy.

Filmed in the arid Rukenya Wildlife Conservancy and the Nyika Bird Sanctuary, the chase scene across the rocky savannah is thrilling until she gets snagged. What ensues after that is so surprising, I won’t spoil it for prospective viewers.

What I will say is the stakes involved in the multi-billion-dollar ivory trade, which is mainly fueled by Chinese demand, are so large that all anti-poaching warriors are to be commended for their bravery.

One only hopes Leonard and Witworth can raise more funds to continue making films in the service of Kenya’s wildlife.