Lion Spy (2022) review: Awesome African film exposé

If there’s one animal that’s synonymous with the screen, it’s the lion. Disney, Born Free, the famous real-life MGM logo – it’s an indisputable fact. Now this iconic mammal could be the face of something that’s not to be celebrated, but needs its debate widening: trophy hunting. That’s where Lion Spy, subtitled The Hunt for Justice, comes in.

After all, it’s been a hot topic for a while now, and has made the headlines in the UK in particular, what with the deliberation of a bill in Parliament, as well as a special screening of this documentary film there. However, with Americans making up the majority of trophy hunters, its imminent release in the US and Canada could prove just as important.

A quick internet search, and you’ll be bombarded by the various arguments, for and against, that this sensitive issue has stirred up. But the film, although it was cut two years ago and has slowly been unleashed on a global audience only recently, begins back in 2014. Director Rogue Rubin felt that impassioned about the plight of wild lions, that she decided the only answer was to take filmmaking to another level, travel to South Africa and immerse herself in the world of the trophy hunters. Let’s just say that creating her false ID to begin with was the easy part.

Where Born Free obviously differed in that it was a movie based on a true story, it also made the viewer tearful in a different way to this. Lion Spy tugs at the heart strings just as you’d expect, so be warned, it can make for painful viewing. The fact that it seems hastily edited matters little: the only point is getting the message across, which it succeeds in doing with plenty to spare. The cinematography is as on-point as it can be, which is an integral part in laying bare this ‘sport’s’ questionable machismo.

This review has already touched on the differing viewpoints within the trophy hunting spectrum, and whilst it’s usually wise to see both sides, there’s one overriding factor at play that pretty much erases one side of the debate as if it were a species on the brink. You see, these animals – whether it be a lion, giraffe or zebra – are the prize, and a large part of that is having your picture taken with your fallen quarry. With the head as the centrepiece it doesn’t do for any bloodshed to be on display, as the photo should give the impression that it’s still alive, despite the opposite being blindingly obvious.

What this means, therefore, is that the prey cannot be shot in the head, and this in turn means that the first shot is not a clean kill. So it can take as many as four bullets in total to finish off the unfortunate animal, which means death is never instant. This alone renders trophy hunting unethical, and no argument could possibly contradict this, in spite of any claims, however strong they may seem. Soapbox aside, this film alone puts forward decent alternatives to help the local economies, whilst the attitudes of the individuals making up the hunting parties are weird at best; callous at worst.

Thankfully, there are ways you can help. Visit www.lionspythefilm.com, and you’ll find a multitude of ways to make your own contribution, however small, as well as links to donate to various charities such as Born Free and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. As the film itself says: “What is Africa without the wild animals?” Where would it, in fact all of us, be then? Lion Spy is out on digital download in the US and Canada on May 7.