Of Oozies and Elephants (2013) User Reviews

Thought provoking look at a scheme to save the Asian elephant

[JillTrew · 8/10 · 7 November 2014]

This fascinating documentary works on several different levels. The film makers nimbly strike just the right balance between the personal charm of Myanmar's working elephants and their Oozies, the truly admirable dedication of the veterinary world, and the big issues of sustainability, politics and the future of Myanmar.

In a country where it is notoriously difficult to film, and where access to logging villages is rare, we are offered insights into the extraordinary bond between elephant and keeper, and follow the painstaking, often funny, progress of a team of highly likable scientists as they set up their mini-labs and attempt to collect their data.

Can these working elephants be the key to the survival of the species? Will the traditional use of elephants for logging - currently a major factor in sustaining Myanmar's forests - survive? What role will economics and politics play? The film offers much food for thought and certainly deserves a wider distribution.

A film to enjoy and ponder

[j-walker1-104-82638 · 7/10 · 11 September 2014]

Fascinating documentary, a close-up look at Burmese elephants at work and also revealing their familial relationship with their handlers, as scientists study how to save these huge and delightful animals from extinction. It has the advantage of taking us into a country that was long closed to the West.

The elephants need the forests to survive, in the wild or as working animals. The Burmese (or Myanmar, as they are now known) need the wood for trade; the elephants can move one tree at a time, thus saving the forest from the widespread destruction of modern machinery.

The film details the work of an international team of experts, who believe that, as the numbers of wild Asian elephants diminish, the working elephants may be the key to the species' continued existence. It's is a must-see for those who want to enjoy some remarkable photography of elephants at work and play and learn more about our changing relationship with the natural world.

Saving the Asian elephant

[lindarenton1 · 9/10 · 14 September 2014]

An important film, beautifully made, which plunges us deep into the previously hidden country of Myanmar, its culture and its forests, and intimately close to the elephants and their Oozies, the men who share their lives and work. Following an international team of scientists whose findings are crucial to saving these elephants from extinction, we learn how it may be possible to save not just these but the whole species of Asian elephants. In the process we learn how Myanmar's use of elephants for tree-by-tree logging also preserves one of the largest remaining forest habitations on earth. The softly-spoken voice-over narration and subtly supporting score add to the sense of a privileged insight into the secrets of Myanmar and its elephants. Oozies won the Audience Award at Bath Film Festival (2013), and deservedly so.

An important and lovely film.

[carolineyapp · 10/10 · 10 September 2014]

Asian elephants are an endangered species but this is not a depressing film. The touching relationship between the handlers (the Oozies), and these huge animals,is very moving, and sensitively handled.

We see the Oozies working with British and Burmese scientists, and with villagers, in painstaking, and often quite challenging, studies to find out more. That this work never becomes tedious is partly due to the informative commentary, which has a light touch that is never overly jolly.

This is a beautifully shot, thoughtful, and ultimately hopeful film, and should be seen a wide audience.

Rare access to the elephants of Burma

[smeetowers · 10/10 · 11 September 2014]

Suzanne Campbell-Jones' film has achieved what conventional wildlife documentaries on Burma have so far failed to do. Namely to mesh rare access to the Burmese elephants along with intelligent science on important issues.

One of the themes of the film is to explore the relationship between the Oozies and the elephants. But it is much more than that. Oozie is Burmese for head rider, the man who works with elephants to log forests. They, and their families all build a special relationship with their individual elephants. The Director clearly has a passion for the continuing work to save these elephants from extinction. Highly recommend.

Working with animals as real life

[timjohnson00 · 9/10 · 23 November 2014]

I've never been to Myanmar – Burma as was - but "Of Oozies and Elephants" made me feel that I have, for an hour or so at least. I haven't just been to the big cities either, but up country, in the jungle and the hills, working closely with the local people and, above all, the elephants. This is a film which intimately involves the viewer with the details of a research programme into the lives and prospects of unique elephant teams. Elephants have been used for logging in the Burmese jungle at least since the British organised the system in the nineteenth century. Is it still sustainable in the twenty-first? The half-tame, half-wild elephants attached to the logging camps don't breed enough to replace themselves, Their numbers have to be topped up by capturing young elephants in the wild. If that continues at the same level there will be no wild elephants left in Myanmar by the end of this century. Dr Khyne U Mar, the Burmese scientist leading the project, has been working for decades to secure the future of Myanmar's elephants for the long term. Now, as Myanmar opens up, she is using her dynamism, diplomacy and commitment to bring together the resources she needs to resolve the sustainability problems. The film takes you close into the action. The oozies scrub and pamper their elephants in the river, work with them hauling logs, feed them special treats, set out into the jungle each morning to bring them back from their night in the wild. The scientists work through their papers in a forest hut, poke through faeces, take blood samples, persuade elephants to ejaculate (not easy). The elephants haul the logs and submit to their oozie's entreaties – if they're not happy the whole operation comes to a halt. This is scientific research and working with animals as real life, not the petting park version. We see the heat and the dust, the battered documents which provide invaluable records of past experience, the practical difficulties of taking and preserving samples. At the end, it's still not clear quite why the elephants' reproductive rate is too low, or what can be done to improve it. But that's real life for you. Provided the work is allowed to stay on track, it looks as if solutions will be found. Meanwhile, along the journey, we have been introduced to a range of major themes. The role of women as leaders of ground-breaking projects. The ethics of putting animals to work. The sustainability of the world's forests in the face of mechanical logging on a mass scale. Using the legacy of empire. Bringing together scientists from the industrialised and the developing worlds in an effective team. Together with a comprehensive introduction to the actualities of veterinary practice in remote places, and with elephants in particular. This makes a film which anybody concerned about such issues, or simply keen to see Myanmar close up, will want to watch. Beyond that, it should be part of the curriculum in every veterinary college and environmental studies course. It should be shown in schools to show everyone what doing real science is like. ("If you must giggle at the back please do it quietly.") The world needs many more films like this – direct, honest, informative, non-judgmental.