King of Beasts

2019 • 85 minutes

About this movie

KING OF BEASTS: is a provocative and timely documentary by award-winning directors Tomer Almagor and Nadav Harel. This film explores the motivations behind the highly controversial industry of lion trophy hunting, and the local economies in which hunters pursue their ultimate ambition. With unprecedented access and unique firsthand footage illustrating this breathtaking and complex story, KING OF BEASTS dives deep into an American hunter’s relentless pursuit of his 14th lion trophy. This thought-provoking documentary profiles the hunter, his associates, as well as the Tanzanians whose livelihoods are dependent on the hunts. KING OF BEASTS raises the question of where savagery truly lies – and who is the true King of Beasts. Shot over the course of four increasingly tense years at the blurry intersection of adventure, colonialism, economics, and Western privilege, as trophy hunting once again became part of the zeitgeist.

Ratings and reviews

Highly informative and stays neutral, allowing you to come to your own conclusions. The commentary is by the main subject of the film along with local guides and others that we come to know to be rather like assistants in the endeavor. I say we "come to know them as" because the documentary avoids captions and narration and leaves the story to the subject's own words and actions. It is well into the documentary that we realize the role the other people actually play. In this way the documentary not only stays neutral but also eliminates what might be considered a source of bias. All in all, the film is crisp, engaging and informative. I've seen lots of documentaries and yet I had no idea that this is how this sort of trophy hunting is done. As I said, this is a difficult subject and this documentary allows you to come to your own conclusions. While I admit that I already felt that trophy hunting was sickening I left the thought there -- as something just not for me. After seeing this film I now feel that this type of hunting also cowardly and a farce.

i think it is a load of rubbish it is horrible if you like any thing about animals or wildlife then don't watch this i can't stand animal killing full stop and this flim is sick lions are amazing animals they don't deserve to be killed for sports or for fun

Killing lions??? I can't believe this. Lions are amazing, and this is seriously just showing that humans are beasts. Those lions didn't do anything to you.