Evelyn Harris

I read the book back in 2018 or 2019. I was disappointed that so few professional critics reviewed the film, and that the one I did see gave it only 2 stars. (I suppose the lack of reviews is due to controversy over deaths of poachers in an African animal preserve where the author and her husband worked.) But the Oscar worthy cinematography and fine acting in this film merit at least 3 stars from a professional. I would give it 4 1/2 if that were possible. It’s hard to compress such a dense book into a watchable length movie, but the director did a good job. I wouldn’t have made the decision to open with boys finding a body in the swamp; but perhaps that was needed for brevity. The English actress who plays Kya, aka Marsh girl, perfectly portrays a range of states of being from frightened animal to young woman experiencing first love to talented naturalist. As other reviewers have said, this is not a movie for children— scenes of physical abuse and rape are powerful if short. And the emotional cruelty toward the abandoned child is also painful. Spoiler alert— the woman who plays Kya as an old woman bears a strong resemblance to the author. And a quote from Kya read near the end to the effect of “sometimes prey destroys the predator to survive” would seem meaningful in light of the controversy over what took place in Africa.