The Ghost and the Darkness

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The Ghost and the Darkness
Directed by Stephen Hopkins
Produced by Grant Hill, Michael Douglas, Paul Radin
Written by William Goldman
Starring Val Kilmer
Michael Douglas
John Kani
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography Vilmos Zsigmond
Editing by Roger Bondelli, Robert Brown Jr.
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) October 11 1996
Running time 109 min
Language English
Budget $55,000,000
IMDb profile

The Ghost and the Darkness is a 1996 film about the Tsavo maneaters, two lions who attacked the builders of the Uganda-Mombasa Railway in 1898, killing about 135 of them, and the subsequent hunt to kill them. The attacks, which took place in Tsavo, Kenya, were recounted by Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Patterson in his book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo.

The film, although based loosely on Patterson's account, romanticises his story and fictionalises important elements of the plot. William Goldman's script introduces Michael Douglas as the American big game hunter Charles Remington. In reality, Remington was not an American, but was an Anglo-Indian named Charles Ryall.

The film was shot mainly on location at Songimvelo Game Reserve in South Africa, rather than Kenya, due to tax laws. Many Maasai characters in the film were actually portrayed by South African actors, although the Maasai depicted during the hunt were portrayed by real Maasai warriors who were hired for the movie.

While the real man-eaters were, like all lions from the Tsavo region, a more aggressive, maneless variety, those used for filming were actually the least aggressive available, for both safety and aesthetic reasons. The main lions featured were two male lions with manes. They were brothers named "Caesar" and "Bongo" (deceased), who were residents of the Bowmanville Zoo in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, both of whom were also featured in George of the Jungle. The film also featured three other lions: two from France and one from the USA.

The film won an Oscar in 1996 for Sound Editing.

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[edit] Plot

Sir Robert Beaumont, the primary financier of the railroad project, is furious because his railroad is not being completed on schedule. He has sought out the expertise of Patterson, a military engineer, to get the project back on track. Beaumont tells Patterson that if he doesn't get the bridge built on time, Beaumont will use all of his power and influence to destroy Patterson's reputation as an engineer.

Patterson travels by train to the outpost station, where he is enthusiastically greeted by camp supervisor Angus Starling. When they arrive in Tsavo, Starling introduces Patterson to the first team supervisor, Samuel (the movie's narrator). Samuel is one of the few men at the work site who is respected and trusted by everyone. Patterson also meets the camp's doctor, David Hawthorne, who tells the colonel that he's brought bad luck with him. The doctor shows him a man who was attacked by a lion. The colonel assures the doctor that he will "sort it out". That night, Patterson kills a lion using only one shot from his .303 Enfield rifle. This raises the camp's morale. However, not long afterwards Mahina, the construction foreman, is dragged from his tent in the middle of the night. His half-eaten body is found the next morning. Patterson then attempts a second night-time lion hunt, but the next morning another worker is found dead at the opposite end of the camp from Patterson's position.

Later, a huge male lion attacks the camp, mauling several men and creating panic among the workers. Patterson, Starling, and Samuel run down the lion and find it feeding on a dead worker. Patterson is about to shoot it when a second male lion attacks them and kills Starling. Both lions escape.

Shortly afterwards, Beaumont, who has come to Africa to find out why the railroad is not making any progress, says he will contact a big game hunter known as Remington to get the job done. That evening Patterson attempts to trap the lions in a modified box car, but the workers who are supposed to kill the lions are too scared to do it properly.

Remington arrives, bringing with him some skilled Maasai warriors to help hunt the lions. The men spend all night preparing themselves for the hunt. The hunt goes badly when a rifle Patterson has borrowed from Dr. Hawthorne misfires, almost resulting in his death. Believing the lions are supernatural, the Maasai warriors abandon Remington to hunt the lions on his own. That evening Remington and Patterson take up a watch in the camp's old hospital which they have cleared of patients and doused with blood in an effort to lure the lions. However, the lions attack the new hospital and kill both the patients and Dr. Hawthorne. The entire population of workers evacuate the camp the next day, leaving Patterson, Remington and Samuel behind to deal with the lions.

Patterson and Remington set off towards the mountains and at last successfully locate the lions' den, which they find filled with piles of human remains. Horrified, they conclude that the lions are killing people for "the pleasure" of it and hoarding the skeletons as trophies. The next evening, Patterson waits on a high wooden platform in a clearing, hoping to attract the lions with a captive monkey tethered to a pole on the ground, while Remington and Samuel keep watch from positions around the edge of the clearing. Remington succeeds in killing one lion, and the three men celebrate by getting drunk. Awakening the next morning, Patterson and Samuel discover that Remington has apparently been dragged from his tent and killed by the remaining lion during the night. Grief stricken over Remington's death and now desperate to end the bloodshed, Patterson decides to burn the tall grass surrounding the camp in order to drive the lion towards the camp where he hopes to ambush it.

Patterson and Samuel are soon attacked by the beast on the partially constructed bridge. Patterson shoots and wounds the lion with a howdah pistol. But the lion quickly retaliates, knocking Patterson's weapons away and chasing him off the bridge. Patterson and Samuel manage to climb into two separate trees, but when Patterson looks down he is shocked to see the lion climbing up the tree after him. Samuel tries to throw Patterson his own rifle but it falls to the ground. Patterson jumps from the tree and retrieves the rifle just in time to shoot the lion as it leaps down to kill him.

At the end of the film, Patterson greets his wife and son at the Tsavo station. The final moments of the film have Samuel explaining that the lions are now on display at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois and that even today "if you dare lock eyes with them, you will be afraid."

[edit] Cast

Actor/Actress Role
Val Kilmer Col. John Henry Patterson
Michael Douglas Charles Remington
John Kani Samuel
Tom Wilkinson Robert Beaumont
Om Puri Abdullah
Bernard Hill Dr. David Hawthorne
Brian McCardie Angus Starling
Emily Mortimer Helena Patterson

[edit] See also

[edit] External links