Wildcat

 

The Amazon documentary Wildcat, directed by Trevor Frost and Melissa Lesh, recounts the story of a mentally and emotionally damaged British veteran of the war in Afghanistan, Harry Turner, who joins a team of conservationists in the jungles of Peru. The team is led by doctoral student Samantha Zwicker.

Zwicker and her team specialize in rescuing abandoned or orphaned carnivores. Turner is charged with training an infant ocelot, which they name Khan.

The film's opening section follows Turner and the other members of the team in their daily duties. His is first to nurture the kitten into adolescence and then to train it to hunt so that it might be returned to the wild when it is full-grown.

The filmmakers successfully reflect the fascinating bond between the spotted feline and his tattooed human companion. Turner's devotion to his charge is palpable and a bit disconcerting. His devotion appears to be connected to a deep need for meaning and purpose.

When Khan is shot by poachers' guns mounted in the woods around Zwicker's compound and eventually dies of his wounds, Turner is devastated and reverts to his former self-harming ways, recording for the camera his feelings of failure and worthlessness. These feelings are connected to his wartime trauma, and the deaths he witnessed in the Middle East. It's a pretty devastating section of the film.

Another ocelot foundling arrives, and Turner is charged with its care and training. The two move to a remote location, away from poachers' guns and other staff members, so that the new cat's bond will be exclusively with Turner. They name the cat Keanu.

Most of the rest of the film is Turner and Keanu, who is quite different temperamentally from Khan, and their work. It does not all go smoothly, as one might expect, and Turner struggles mightily to hold himself together.

But the film is also about Turner's relationship with Zwicker, the team leader and his lover, who is pushed to the limits of endurance by Turner's manic behavior and his often-inconsolable despair.

Frost and Lesh have directed an engaging and highly affective film about connections and healing. It has narrative gaps, lingering questions and some staging issues, but the story of Harry and Keanu is warmly affirming. And the jungles are beautiful.