Lion Documantry

This award-winning mini-series surveys the history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios from its creation and rise in the 1920s, its pinnacle in the 30s and 40s to its decline in the 1950s.

Ngorongoro Crater is lush, beautiful and rich with residents that graze its volcanic floor. Two thousand foot high cliffs surround the Crater, which is home to over 13,000 herd animals. The Crater is also home to the highest density of large carnivores in Africa. 18 year old Msaka is the Crater's oldest lioness and leads the large Lakette pride. Faced with a food shortage, their chief huntress disappears to seek out sustenance for them all.

A large number of animals gather around Pride Rock in Africa witnessing the arrival of Simba, the newborn son of the lion king and queen, Mufasa and Sarabi. Mufasa's younger brother, Scar, is displeased with the birth of this heir. As a young cub, Mufasa teaches Simba about being king. While touring of the Pride Lands, Simba asks about a

Ngorongoro Crater is lush, beautiful and rich with residents that graze its volcanic floor. Two thousand foot high cliffs surround the Crater, which is home to over 13,000 herd animals. The Crater is also home to the highest density of large carnivores in Africa. 18 year old Msaka is the Crater's oldest lioness and leads the large Lakette pride. Faced with a food shortage, their chief huntress disappears to seek out sustenance for them all.

In the early 1900s, an American businessman was kidnapped by a rebellious Arab chieftain, principally as a means to… embarrass the sultan of Morocco. This abduction sparked the threat of armed intervention by President Theodore Roosevelt, which was never carried out. In The Wind and the Lion, the unattractive male captive is replaced by the gorgeous female Mrs. Pedecaris, an American widow played by Candice Bergen. The ruthless but essentially decent Arab chief Raisuli is portrayed by Sean Connery, while Teddy Roosevelt is depicted as a jingoistic blowhard by Brian Keith. The film's main theme that of America's emergence as a world power is largely secondary to the growing mutual-respect relationship between Mrs. Pedecaris and Raisuli. After releasing his hostage, Raisuli is himself captured by German forces, who at the behest of the Kaiser are seeking out methods of laying the groundwork for what would evolve into World War I. Mrs. Pedecaris must then help Raisuli escape.

A young lion prince is born in Africa, thus making his uncle Scar the second in line to the throne. Scar plots with the hyenas to kill King Mufasa and Prince Simba, thus making himself King. The King is killed and Simba is led to believe by Scar that it was his fault, and so flees the kingdom in shame. After years of exile he is persuaded to return home to overthrow the usurper and claim the kingdom as his own thus completing the "Circle of Life".

"Only the Songhay hunters, a hereditary caste, are entitled to kill lions. The herdsmen are permitted only to throw stones at lions to chase them away. The Peul consider that the lion is necessary for the herd, and they are capable of identifying individual lions by the tracks they leave. But when a lion kills too many cattle, it has to be eliminated, because such a lion is a killer." (J. Rouch). From 1957 to 1964, Rouch observed the Gao hunters from the Yatakala region and the film recounts episodes of the hunt in which technology and magic are intimately entwined: making bows and arrows, preparing the poison, tracking the animals, the death ritual.