Elephants Up Close – Elephants hautnah (2018)

Directed by: Jens Westphalen, Thoralf Grospitz | 50 minutes | documentary

Elephants are the largest land mammals in the world, the rulers of the savannah who are only afraid of humans and large groups of lions. But what do we actually know about these imposing giants? More and more, but by no means everything. One thing that science has now revealed is that elephants are among the most intelligent animal species on Earth. They possess special cognitive abilities that have long been ascribed only to humans, great apes and dolphins. In addition, they are usually gentle animals that pay a lot of attention to raising their young and mourn deceased congeners.

The German documentary ‘Elephants Up Close’ (‘Elefanten hautnah’) presents us with a lot of interesting facts about elephants. We see, for example, how the female leaders, the matriarchs, of a herd, thanks to their proverbial elephant memory and keen senses, can flawlessly find water sources many miles away. In addition, the documentary also provides us with insight into the way in which the savanna giants communicate with each other. Elephants appear to have an extensive arsenal of vocalizations. The lowest tones, the so-called infrasound, are not even perceptible to our ears. Elephants use their paws to make those deep sounds resonate through the ground, so that congeners can pick up the vibrations — which contain information about watering holes, upcoming storms, the location of a herd and possible dangers — from a great distance. The viewer also gains a lot of insight into the social structure of the pachyderms. The females and young animals form solid herds, while the adult bulls live a largely solitary existence outside the mating season or gather around waterholes in loose ‘groups of friends’.

The informative part is combined with beautiful film images that regularly give the viewer the feeling that he is standing in the middle of the elephants. Detailed close-ups and beautiful images of elephants bathing in the golden-yellow morning and evening light alternate with expansive panoramas and aerial shots that show large elephant herds congregating on the Chobe River.

‘Elephants Up Close’ was shot in Botswana, the country that is home to by far the largest wild elephant population in the world. It helps that this nation in southern Africa is extremely sparsely populated, leaving relatively much room for authentic wilderness and the iconic African megafauna. However, there is also plenty of discussion in Botswana about the regulated hunting of elephants. The giants need about three hundred kilos of green fodder per day, which means that, especially in the dry season, some areas are stripped of almost all vegetation. The documentary deals only briefly, sideways and in perspective on this precarious issue, which is perhaps a bit of a shame. On the other hand, it is not entirely illogical given the character and target audience of this film.

‘Elephants Up Close’ is above all an informative ode to the elephant, supported by beautiful images. The lover of the better nature film will undoubtedly lick his fingers when consuming this visual treat.