National Geographic - Eye of the Leopard

This movie is one for the ages. Leopards have always fascinated me, from their solitary existence, the almost two years they spend with their mother before moving on, to the obvious, but unmeasured range of intelligence. This documentary goes in depth into the life of a once cub Lagadema (meaning lightning from above in the local language) on her journey and transition from a cub to adult. The filming and videos achieve a level of closeness that is extremely hard when the always elusive leopard is the main subject. Stunning visuals and great chase scenes, including those where both prey and predator rarely touch the ground, are very well filmed and intricate within the web of trees and branches both use as a means of escape and cornering.The narrator, Jeremy Irons, is very fun to listen to and I never found him boring. While the documentary does add some human attributes to the felines, they never seem foolish or fabricated, but are rather believable. The bond between mother and cub is always strong, no matter which species, and the leopards are no exception. The mother must leave her cub for days at a time in order to hunt for food to provide for Lagadema, but she must stay away in order to lessen the chances of their home being spotted. Leopards thrive on invisibility and the art of surprise, meaning they must always lurk in the shadows of their prey's minds until the moment to strike arrives.The Jouberts once again amaze with a wonderful documentary and film. I will keep my eye out for any other videos they might be involved in, and I recommend doing the same to anyone who enjoys these kinds of movies. Well worth and deserving of the five star rating. If you are a fan of nature and the cycle it plays, this is a great video to see.Thank you to Amazon who delivered the movie on time and in perfect condition. Great movie and great service, all around bravo to everyone involved.

Derek and Beverly Joubert are the premier African wildlife videographers of today, and their videos are invariably well researched and chock full of footage of their wildlife subjects. Sometimes, they outdo themselves. This is one of those times, for in this video, they tell a story perhaps even more riveting than in their previous classic, .This particular video, filmed over the course of three years, tells the story of a youthful leopard, from conception to independence. You'll see her as a newborn cub hiding from hyenas and baboons; you'll see her facing down squirrels and learning to hunt them. You'll learn techniques for hunting monkey and antelope by her side as her mother demonstrates. You'll also see these leopards face down far more dangerous enemies - not only the aforementioned baboons and hyenas, but also lions, and buffalo so big even the lions are careful around them. At times, you may fear for the life of the leopard heroine, even though you already know, from the flashback structure of the story, that she survives.The main video is 90 minutes long, and is in 1.66:1 letterbox format. The letterbox format means there will be a narrow black border at the top and bottom - on all four sides on a wide screen - but the amount of wasted space is minimal, unlike letterboxed 2.33:1 videos. In addition to the main video, there is an extra feature where the Jouberts talk about how the video was made.You won't see the Jouberts themselves - or any other people - in the main video, though. The Jouberts prefer to keep the focus of their videos on the wildlife, not on the researchers. Indeed, the Jouberts filmed in relatively remote Botswana in central Africa, rather than more accessible locations, to find an area that was as unspoiled as possible. This technique really helps make it feel like the viewer is actually there, without the intervention of camera or cameraman - seeing the action through the eye of the leopard.

This is a wonderful documentary done by the husband and wife team, the Jouberts, who have spent their entire adult lives, 30 years, in filming the wild places and wild animals that still inhabit them. This documentary, funded by National Geographic, took a full three years to complete. It follows a specific Leopard cub from eight days old through three years of age. The Jouberts somehow obtain the best natural footage of animals in all their films and this one is one of the best.There is another shorter film available on the making of this documentary. It is very interesting, but I'd recommend seeing the documentary first, as the "making of" tells you perhaps more of the "story" than you might want. The Jouberts became mere background sight and sound to the leopard they were filming, as the "making of" film clearly shows, but never took advantage of the leopard's wildness, and never fed it, touched it, or otherwise enocouraged it to be tame. As a result, however, they were able to get such remarkable and beautiful true events of hunting, mating, and play....Cannot recommend this enough for those who care about these endangered species, and their wild habitat.

I had seen this on Nat Geo years ago and found it compelling. On my larger screen now it was very impressive. Jeremy Irons does a good job of narrating this story.

An excellent documentary showcasing the magnificent leopard. The photography is spectacular, as in the narration from the great Jeremy Irons.

Beautiful film. This meant so much to us as we had just returned from Mombo (where it was filmed) and we were so lucky to spend a few hours duringt 2 days with the star of the show and even see her courting her boyfriend !

We love this film it is really nice and we love the leopard in the film. Thank you

This is some of the best filming I have seen in its genre. Its utterly captivating. Unmissable. I cannot imagine anyone interested in wild life not loving it !