DUMA
Year: 2005
USA & UK: Warner Bros Pictures
Cast: Alexander Michaeletos, Eamonn Walker, Campbell Scott, Hope Davis, Mary Makhatho, Nthabiseng Kenoshi, Jennifer Steyn, Nicky Rebello, Garth Renecle, Andre Stolz, Charlotte Savage, Ronald Shange, Nadia Kretschmer, John Whiteley, Clive Scott, Catriona Andrew, Errol Ballantine, Michele Levin, Sam Nagakane, Adelaide Shabalala, Thokozani Ndaba, Wright Ngubane, Bernard Msimang, Ivy Nkutha
Cheetahs: Anthony, Azaro, Nikita, Sasha, Savannah, Sheba
Director: Carroll Ballard
Country: USA
USA & UK: 100 mins
USA Rated: PG for mild adventure peril
UK Certificate: U contains mild adventure peril
USA Release Date: 30 September 2005 (Limited Release - New York and Los Angeles)
USA Release Date: 22 April 2005 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 27 May 2005
Synopsis
Set in the exotic country of South Africa, DUMA tells the powerful adventure of an unbreakable bond of friendship between a cheetah named Duma and a courageous young boy named Xan (Alexander Michaletos). Xan faces the true test of love when he must cross the wilds of Southern Africa to return his best friend to his rightful home.
When Xan and his father Peter (Campbell Scott) comes across an orphaned cheetah cub, they name him 'Duma', the Swahili name for cheetah and he quickly becomes part of the family. But when Duma is almost fully grown, to Xan's dismay, his father tells him that it is time to take his friend to his real home before he grows to old to survive in his native habitat.
Xan reluctantly agrees, but their plans are delayed when his father suddenly falls ill and Xan and his mother (Hope David) must move to Johannesburg. When Duma escapes and pays a disastrous visit to Xan's school, the two flee the city to keep Duma from being put into captivity.
Not knowing where to go, Xan gets an idea - he'll carry out the plan his dad outlined, taking Duma home to a safe and lush place hundreds of miles across South Africa, over the scorching Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, through the Okavango Delta and into the Erongo Mountains.
Piloting his dad's motorcycle with Duma riding shotgun in the sidecar, the two friends speed across the barren desert and into the wildest adventure of both their lives. When they run out of petrol they seek shelter from the remains of an aircraft wreck and are confronted by Rip (Eamonn Walker) a mysterious drifter on a journey of his own. While Xan isn't at all sure he can trust Rip, he has to admit that he's going to need some help along the way… and Duma makes a pretty menacing bodyguard.
Using a parachute from the downed plane, the motorcycle is transformed into an ingenious desert sailboat and Xan, Rip and Duma are soon racing across the scorched flats until they encounter the untraversable scrub brush of the Kalahari desert and must abandon their craft.
Entering the lush jungles of the Okavango Delta, Xan finds himself surrounded by danger - lions, crocodiles in the Thamalakane River and deadly poisonous creatures crawling through the foliage. But it's too late to turn back now.
Drawing nearer to the Erongo Mountains where he and Duma must part, Xan knows that they will face a final test and discover if Duma is ready to live the life he was born to.
