In “Wildcat” An Ocelot Saves an Afghanistan Vet With PTSD
The documentary “Wildcat,” in which a young British war veteran suffering from recurrent depression and PTSD seeks solace in the Peruvian rainforest, is a visually beautiful and sensitive portrait of an ecosystem at risk.
The vet, Harry Turner, meets wildlife ecologist Samantha Zwicker in Peru, where the two embark on a mission to rescue a month-old ocelot and raise it until it can fend for itself in the wild, a process that would take 18 months. Turner’s observation that “He’s saving me and I’m saving him,” takes an ominous turn when the cat is killed by a poacher’s shotgun.
Turner, haunted by the ghosts of Afghanistan, spirals into depression with renewed thoughts of self-harm before the couple is asked to rescue another ocelot kitten. They name it Keanu, and both cat and vet get a second chance. Plenty of human and animal drama follows as Turner must show tough love to raise the cat and eventually let it go, a narrative arc that mirrors what happens, more or less, between the humans.
Drama aside, the film is beautifully filmed with intimate looks at the rainforest faunae, especially the nocturnal creatures that Keanu must learn to hunt and kill, as taught by its emotionally damaged human mentor. Long story short, the movie is a lot like “Born Free” but less maudlin.
Perhaps more important than the story at hand, the documentary introduces Zwicker’s new conservation group Hoja Nueva (“New Leaf”), which today protects 3,000 hectares of Peru’s primary rainforest “combating wildlife trafficking, rescuing and rewilding key species, and running a first-of-its-kind ecological research station and education center,” according to its website at hojanueva.org.
To date they’ve rescued 119 animals and have reintroduced 65 into the wild. Besides ocelots, they’ve saved jaguars, margays, and oncillas (wildcats all). “We specialize in carnivore rehabilitation (particularly felids, reptiles, and mesopredators), because of their ecological importance, their prevalence in wildlife trafficking, and the fact that there are no other centers dedicated to their rehabilitation and reintroduction.”
“Wildcat” opened at the Telluride Film Festival in September and is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
Photo credit: Hoja Nueva
