By: debbie lynn elias
A charming and heartwarming documentary that debuted at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival is one that now makes its way to theaters just in time for summer. Ten years in the marking, ONE LUCKY ELEPHANT is the story of a 5 ton elephant named Flora who over the years has stolen the hearts of everyone whom she has met.
Directed by Lisa Leeman, ONE LUCKY ELEPHANT follows the story of Flora from the time of her “adoption” as a calf in 1985 by circus owner and ringmaster, David Balding. Since her adoption, Flora has long held national and international attention.
Born 25 years ago in Zimbabwe, at age 2, Flora’s family was killed in a culling, leaving Flora tied to her dead mother’fs body as butchers chopped it into meat for sale. Balding, wanting an elephant for his circus, which was ultimately renamed Circus Flora, also wanted to help little Flora and with her adoption, thus began one of the greatest love stories of our time. But, as the years went by, despite her being the star of the show, Flora became less thrilled with performing, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by Balding. Realizing that she needed the companionship of other elephants and perhaps even be returned to the wild, although difficult and heartbreaking as it is to any parent letting go of a child, Balding embarked on a quest to find the perfect home for Flora. Ultimately, Flora landed in Tennessee at The Elephant Sanctuary. But life wasn’t the bed of roses for Flora that Balding thought it would be as Flora began to act out like a belligerent child, ultimately leading to a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress order attributed to her trauma as a baby. There is a reason for the saying “elephants never forget” and seeing Flora is living proof. (In MRI studies conducted at UCLA several years ago, it was discovered that elephants have a large hippocampus which controls learning and memory – particularly long term memory, thus imprinting trauma on the brain.) Deferring to the expertise of Sanctuary founder and owner, Carol Buckley, Flora began intensive behavioral rehabilitation, which included never seeing Balding again.
Posing thought provoking questions about exotic animals and captivity, as well as man’s imprint on the animal world, ONE LUCKY ELEPHANT will bring a tear to your eye, a smile to your heart, and awaken your own conscience.
Written and Directed by Lisa Leeman.
