Duma: A Family Movie Not to Be Forgotten

You might be like me. When I saw the preview for Duma, I thought to myself, “Didn’t I already see that movie, under its old title Two Brothers?” But, come to find out, it’s a totally different movie. A much better movie.

Set in South Africa, Duma details the journey of Xan (played by Alex Michaletos) who is traveling across the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans and the Okavango Delta (“a place of many teeth, a place to die” we are told) to return Duma, the cheetah he has cared for since it was a cub, to the wild. Along the way, Xan meets Rip (Eamonn Walker), a tribesman who is returning to his tribe after a failed attempt to make it in the city.

Carroll Ballard (Director) manages to do something with Duma that Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Two Brothers couldn’t even dream of doing-she makes you feel.

The subtle but increasingly powerful and realistic emotional bonds that Xan, Rip, and Duma share fill the screen with an irresistible exotic texture not normally found in movies.

Placing this unusual relationship in the vibrant open plains of South Africa, replete with such unusual creatures as bush babies and water buffaloes, Duma takes its viewers into a world they will not soon forget and will not want to leave.