Born Free
1966 · Movie · 95 min · ★ 6.8 · 89% critics
In a Kenyan national park, a devoted couple takes in orphaned lion cubs and grows especially attached to the smallest. When the young lion is blamed for trouble near a village, they face a hard choice: prepare her for life in the wild or send her away to a zoo.
Based on Born Free
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Details
- Years
- 1966
- Release date
- 1966-03-14
- Language
- English
- Runtime
- 95 min
- Critic score
- 89/100
- TMDB rating
- 6.8/10 (130 votes)
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you want a gentle, emotional animal story with sweeping African scenery and a classic family-film feel; Not for you if you dislike sentimental dramas or scenes of animals in danger, even when handled carefully like Duma.
Pros: heartwarming human-animal bond; beautiful African landscapes; memorable music | Cons: some dated attitudes; liberties with true story; slow, simple pacing
Themes
- parent child relationship
- freedom
- lion
- animal attack
- rifle
- game warden
- lioness
- kenya
- lion cub
- animal rights
- warthog
- wildlife
- +3 more
Awards & recognition
- Academy Award — Best Original Score · 1967
- Genesis Award
- National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
- Academy Award — Best Original Score · 1967 · nominated
Cast & crew
Virginia McKenna
as Joy Adamson
Bill Travers
as George Adamson
Geoffrey Keen
as Kendall
- PL
Peter Lukoye
as Nuru
- OC
Omar Chambati
as Makkede
- BG
Bill Godden
as Sam
- RY
Robert S. Young
as James
- BE
Bryan Epsom
as Baker
- GB
Geoffrey Best
as Watson
- RC
Robert Cheetham
as Ken
Directed by Tom McGowan, James Hill