Duma

2005 Action/Adventure

Carroll Ballard, director of The Black Stallion and Never Cry Wolf, presents another story of an unusual relationship between humans and animals in this drama. Xan (Alexander Michaletos) is a young boy who lives with his father and mother (Campbell Scott and Hope Davis) on a ranch in Kenya. One day, Xan and his folks discover a cheetah cub whose mother has died. With no one to care for the cat, Xan and his family take the cheetah under their wing, and after naming the cub "Dooms" (from "Duma," which means "male cheetah cub" in Swahili), Xan and his new friend become inseparable. However, Xan and his parents discover in time that nature doesn't always have a happy ending planned for a little boy. Duma was based on a book for children called How It Was With Dooms: A True Story From Africa, by Carol Cawthra Hopcraft and Xan Hopcraft, which told the story of Xan's real-life friendship with a cheetah. more..

Director: Carroll Ballard

Starring: Alexander Michaletos,Campbell Scott, Mary Makhatho, Nthabiseng Kenoshi, Hope Davis

Reviews

  • An astonishing film.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    26 April 2013

  • This is precisely the kind of film that parents clamor for and rarely get: a substantive, stirring, Huck Finn-style saga that doesn't insult anyone's intelligence or mindlessly entertain with crass humor.

    Claudia Puig - USA Today

    26 April 2013

  • An exquisitely filmed, emotionally transfixing epic about a white South African boy's journey to return his pet cheetah to the wild.

    Ty Burr - The Boston Globe

    26 April 2013

  • Duma, at its best, reminded me exactly why we loved movies as children: because they told stories like this, with images just as rhapsodically colorful and exciting.

    Michael Wilmington - The Chicago Tribune

    26 April 2013

  • Duma is not a masterpiece, but its deficits recede into insignificance once you open yourself to the movie's mystery and visual splendor.

    Joe Morgenstern - The Wall Street Journal

    26 April 2013

Awards

  • Family Feature Film

    Genesis Awards (2006)