If you love it, cherish it. … Or kill it? After seeing Christina Clusiau and Shaul Schwarz’s documentary, I’m not sure which one is best. There’s just no end to the list of things humans can fuck up, and Trophy takes a look at the depletion of several species, specifically the rhino, to sketch a map of ethical and legal quandary. It’s quite fascinating, if not a bit perplexing.
There are a lot of players in this game, from poachers to breeders to wildlife officials to hunters who spend as much as $350,000 for the chance to kill an animal. But it’s all right, because that money goes toward maintaining the rest of the population, so in a sense it’s considered conservation. This wacky idea has given way to a consumer culture for economic elites who desire the status that comes along with taking down a leopard, or an alligator, depending on how loaded they happen to be. The juxtaposition is conveyed best during a scene where the owner of one of these “safari” companies is brought to tears while discussing his attachment to his animals while there’s a stuffed mountain lion behind him in the frame.
Another preservationist who has a funny way of showing it is Philip Glass, who bookends the film and lends a sort of tactile curiosity, a humanity, to the face of the hunter. And then there’s John Hume, the guy who owns a rhino farm in Africa, who harvests the horns to prevent the rhinos from being killed, yet he is prohibited from selling them because of a moratorium, so he’s headed toward bankruptcy while sitting on a pile of product worth millions. He is sort of pitted against the locals, who have a totally survivalist viewpoint.
The filmmakers take a literal “in the field” approach to exploring this rather complex topic. There are some talking-head interviews, but far more of the action takes place between man and beast, creating a heightened emotional state for viewers regardless of their stance. And to that end: Documentary films are often biased, almost as if the directors made a thesis statement and gathered people to provide the facts to support it. Trophy instead holds its subject right up to the light, like a diamond, so that all facets can be seen. It may not rouse the public to action, but it will give us something to ponder.
This article appears in September 22 • 2017.