You can now take part in the patient search for a rare big cat in Tibet for around 90 minutes. Boring? Not at all. The award-winning documentary “The Snow Leopard” also has a very calming effect in times of crisis.
Berlin – Rarely does a leading actor leave as much time for his first appearance as in this film.
It takes up to 65 minutes before the French nature photographer Vincent Munier and his companion, the writer Sylvain Tesson, finally get to see the snow leopard – and then only in the rather random pictures of a “camera trap”. The epic journey to the extremely rare big cat in the Tibetan highlands almost ends without a direct encounter – then the animal shows itself in all its glory.
“The Snow Leopard”, a documentary film directed by Munier and Marie Amiguet, which was overwhelmed with advance praise, is a special kind of cinema event. Because of the images of deserted steppe and mountain landscapes, which are incredibly fascinating despite their sparseness. Because of the largely instrumental music of the indie rock icons Warren Ellis and Nick Cave, in whose majestic closing song “We Are Not Alone” the meeting of the people and the spotted loner culminates. And because of its story: “The Snow Leopard” has a lot more to tell than just the weeks of searching by two capable men in the freezing cold of Tibet.
Incidentally, the one and a half hour film, with its stoic calm and the unrestrained beauty of its images, fits perfectly into a time when the existential crises of climate change, the corona pandemic and war are just stringing together. “A kind of escape” is behind the project, says the comment. “Der Schneeleopard” also allows the viewer to escape a bit from the world.
Before the moving finale with the snow leopard (Tesson: “An unexpected gift”), the two Frenchmen see, observe, film and photograph numerous other mountain animals: Tibetan foxes, antelopes, yaks, a Pallas cat, vultures, bears. The conversations between the two seekers, which are always carefully whispered, are almost philosophical in a harsh environment that makes no promises of rapid success.
Tesson in particular has to realize that “all the puppet shows that people put on”, their impatience and recklessness at 5000 meters are completely misplaced. “The Lauer was a journey”, a meditative journey also to oneself, says the renowned travel book author. Munier adds: “We have lost our senses” – meaning the modern world in its relationship to nature and wildlife. It goes without saying that the message behind the patient search until the triumphant sighting of the shy predator is radically ecological.
“The Snow Leopard” celebrated its world premiere this year during the Cannes Film Festival. At the Césars, i.e. the French Oscars, the work received awards for best documentary and best first work. “A tale of adventure and a spiritual quest, a tribute to patience, wilderness and beauty,” said critic François Busnel of the TV show La Grande Librairie.
Tesson processed his experiences in the bestseller “Der Schneeleopard” (Rowohlt Verlag), the three-time “BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year” Munier presented his breathtaking pictures in the volume “Between Rock and Ice” (Knesebeck Verlag). The snow leopard saga in every form is a feast for the eyes, the heart and the brain. dpa
