by Jake Hjort, Contributing Writer
When I heard that husband and wife documentarians Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin were directing another film, I must say that my expectations were very high. The Academy Award-winning Free Solo is one of my favorite documentaries of all time, and their other two films, Meru and The Rescue, are both 9/10s in my book. When it comes to telling dynamic man versus nature stories of people pushing themselves to their absolute limits, there are no filmmakers doing better work than Vasarhelyi and Chin. Unfortunately, I think they may have strayed a bit too far from this perfected formula in their latest offering, Wild Life.
Compared to their previous three films, Wild Life is by far the most ambitious storytelling project they’ve taken on, telling not the story of a singular event such as Alex Honnold’s historic ascent of El Capitan, but rather highlighting the entire lives of its subjects: conservationists Kris and Doug Tompkins. Both titans of the clothing industry — Kris the first CEO of Patagonia, and Doug the founder of The North Face and Esprit — the two fell in love and used their business earnings to fund their true passion: conservation. In the 1990s, the Tompkinses began buying hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Chile and Argentina with the intent to establish national parks and preserve biodiversity. This collection continued until Doug’s death in a kayaking accident in Chile in 2015, a few years after which Kris donated millions of acres of land to the Chilean government — the largest private land donation in history.
By far, my largest issue with Wild Life is its ambitious scope and lack of focus. There are essentially two different documentaries competing for screen time: one telling Kris and Doug’s love story, and the other about their conservation efforts in South America. While either of these could have been incredible on their own, neither is allowed to really shine. After almost every scene, I found myself wishing for a few more minutes to expand on the details, and by focusing on one story or the other I think they could have made something truly special. Kris and Doug do have a beautiful story of love and loss, and the work they’ve done in Chile and Argentina is truly incredible, but it is nigh impossible to satisfyingly document both in only 90 minutes.
My issues with scope and storytelling aside, Wild Life is a very well-directed documentary. There is some absolutely beautiful footage of the South American wilderness shown throughout the film with some stunning drone shots that perfectly capture the sweeping landscapes. The film is also very well edited, knowing when to cut between interviews, original and archival footage, and animated recreations. Vasarhelyi and Chin are clearly very technically adept documentarians, and it shows through the production of this film.
For any documentary to be successful, it should do two things: educate the audience and provide a call to action. Although I don’t think it excels at either given the sheer volume of information it’s trying to convey, I do think that Wild Life accomplishes both tasks. Going into the film, I have taken several college-level conservation biology courses and was generally familiar with the Tompkinses’ work and story, but even I was able to learn new things about their background and the opposition they faced within the Chilean government as they tried to strong-arm them into preserving their own land. The call to action, although never explicitly stated, comes in two parts. One, the few of us who have the money and power to make a change to the world need to step up and do so, because if you follow the example set by Kris and Doug, you can accomplish great things. Two, for the majority of us who cannot afford to spend millions of dollars on undeveloped land, go out into your own backyard and be a steward for your local environment. Volunteer with conservation groups, advocate for responsibility, and just spend time enjoying the outdoors, because this is the only planet we have and it takes everyone to protect it.
By and large, Wild Life is a good documentary that is really close to being a great one. While it likely won’t get the acclaim of some of their earlier work, it is still and admirable entry into Vasarhelyi and Chin’s filmography, and I look forward to watching their next project, although I do hope they go back to tackling smaller, more contained stories.
Score: 7/10
Wild Life is currently streaming on Disney+
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