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LOVE AND BANANAS

Abramorama - 75 min
  • DIRECTOR: Ashley Bell

SHOWTIMES 03/29/2024 (change date):

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Synopsis:

Elephant rescues in Thailand are rare, unpredictable and often life threatening. After waiting over 2 years, actor/director Ashley Bell and a team of elephant rescuers led by world renowned Asian elephant conservationist and TIME Magazine's Hero of Asia, Sangdeaun Lek Chailert, embark on a daring mission to rescue Noi Na, a 70-year old captive, partially blindtrekking elephant and bring her 500 miles acrossThailandto freedom.

African elephants are slaughtered for their ivory, but sadly the plight of the Asian Elephant has been completely overlooked even though they are the elephant we are most familiar with in zoos, circuses and elephant rides. Love & Bananas: An Elephant Storyexposes the cruel secret that every Asian elephant has had to endure to become a service animal; a process known as Pajan, aka The Crush Box.The heartwarming film aims to ignite a sense of hope, and a new way of thinking about this species,whileexposing the plight of Asian elephants and the people who work tirelessly to save them.

Information:

Reviews

Overall Rating Based on 8 Reviews
2.9 out of 5 stars
Tell us what you think about this movie.
Current Reviews
Loyalty & Royalty
5 out of 5 stars

" EXCELLENT "

July 23, 2018
Excellent, myself and Angry Elephant ( my sons) were invited to the first showing of Love and Bananas at a location in Manhattan. I loved the love of everyone involved. To help save a elephant that was captured and miss treated . I was on edge though the whole journey. Well done ,to all that had part in making this come to the big screen. Keep up the Excellent work ❤

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1 out of 5 stars

Propaganda

July 21, 2018
Completely false information, spreading hate towards the people who do the most conservation, have the most experience, and do the most research to learn more about how these animals should be cared for.

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Jean
5 out of 5 stars

Excellent picture of a great need

July 18, 2018
Shows the great effort it takes to rescue and care for these gentle giants. They are so loving and grateful, you can tell.

FSL
4 out of 5 stars

Important and Vital Documentary

July 10, 2018
This documentary is vital for everyone to see to understand the plight of the elephants and how one loving woman changed the economic dynamic in a way that saves elephants from commercialized exploitation and helps families and communities thrive. It's intelligent, moving and shows the power of questioning the status quo and being the change you want to see in the world. Kudos to Ashley Bell and Lek Chailert!

Wendell S Proctor
5 out of 5 stars

Brillaint film....saw it twice.

July 9, 2018
Brilliant film that dares to tell the truth about how baby Asian elephants are captured and abused to be raised in fear of man for profit in trekking camps, entertainment and logging. The attacks by those in Thailand and America that continue to profit off the misery of these majestic and sentient creatures is a clear example as to why this film must be seen. It is the " Black Fish" for Asian elephants. It is an inspiring and moving film and more important, it clearly presents a solution to a long pressing problem. See Love and Bananas: An Elephant Story for yourself and you'll understand why important critics in America have given it among other kudos," 4 trunks up"," 4 stars" and stated " You cannot leave the theater unchanged" and more.

Eemasar
1 out of 5 stars

Fabrication & Propoganda

July 8, 2018
I am appalled that something so factually incorrect could possibly be screened. The entire trailer to this movie is one fabrication after another, it is nothing but another "scheme" to garner funds from the public ! Not a mention of two of her elephants that have been "locked up" isolated and segregated because she could not train them not with love and certainly not with banana's. This film deserves a minus rating but alas that was not an option.

Kome Chandhabura
1 out of 5 stars

This movie is evil in the making!

July 6, 2018
Please think twice!!! If an elephant had been tortured its whole life BEFORE arriving at a 'sanctuary', the 'sanctuary' would NOT have found out about the elephant to begin with...because the elephant would have been long, long dead! In 'sanctuary propaganda', the previous backgrounds of elephants are almost always portrayed to be full of cruelty and abuse. If that were true, do you really think those same elephants would have survived such a scale of cruelty and abuse?! Some elephants have been known to survive years of mistreatment...but only mistreatment up to a certain level. The scale of (previous) torture and abuse put forward by 'sanctuaries' is, for all intents and purposes, unrealistic! Believe me, in many cases, those stories are made up. It's all part of the 'sanctuary business model'! And, no doubt, the movie "Love and Bananas" has bought into this business model! Please, please think twice before believing every single word those 'sanctuaries' keep feeding you!!!

Truthseeker
1 out of 5 stars

Follow the money

July 5, 2018
This film makes very disturbing claims designed to malign the people and families that have been caring for elephants for centuries. It is effectively participating in the demise of Thai elephant culture and Thai elephantsʼ extinction. Premise. "You don't need a bull hook to control an elephant. You can guide an elephant with love... And bananas" as quoted by Lek Chailert. Of course it easy to showcase a few good tempered, docile adult elephants that have been trained in the past but what of the babies that Lek herself raised? The two bulls Hope and Jungle Boy. These two elephants have now been sentenced to life behind bars and confined to enclosures for the rest of their lives, because no one there could train them with love and bananas. Love and bananas is simply a clever slogan to sell a product, not reflect reality. Any credible, experienced, honest, veterinarian, elephant care specialist, conservationist or research scientist, who is a true elephant expert, will agree that the guide is the only husbandry tool effective for managing elephants in a free contact environment, where elephants are not sentenced to life behind bars and confined exclusively to their enclosures. In the trailer alone there are two of the biggest lies that are being told all over the world against innocent, marginalized, elephant people. 1. The film claims that all elephants are stolen from the wild. This is a lie. It has been illegal to take elephants from the wild in Thailand for nearly 100 years unless government sanctioned for special purposes. So indeed, if this film is claiming that, where is their evidence and why are they not reporting it to the government authorities? Since 2015 all domestic elephants have been registered under a computerized centralized system. Each elephant is microchipped and their DNA recorded in special passports. Any movement between provinces requires permission and entered into the elephantʼs passport. These measures have been championed by genuine elephant people who have spent many months advising, planing and co-operating with the government to produce the results that benefit ALL elephants in Thailand. Please check the links. https://www.facebook.com/notes/elephantstay/national-elephant-identification-papers/1510889875613005/ https://www.facebook.com/notes/elephantstay/elephant-dna- database/1510898608945465/ 2. The other lie that is really outrageous and vile is the one that ALL CAPTIVE ELEPHANTS are tortured and abused to be broken for human use. This is ludicrous. These lies have been spread for self serving reasons of ego and money. None of these fabrications have benefited elephants. Instead they line the pockets of those telling them. The people who spread these lies are complicit in creating hate against families, against fathers, mothers, children and babies. Because Elephant people may not be able to read and write or understand what is being said about them and perhaps because they donʼt speak English, you may believe they are fair targets to be objects of hate and victims of lies, but I donʼt see any of the people who are spreading the lies getting up in the heat, in the rain, in the mud and dust, even when ill, making sure their elephant is looked after. Screening a movie like this is creating more hate and anger toward people you have never met and it does absolutely nothing to help elephants. The elephants are attached to these people, as are the people to elephants and itʼs wrong to screen an obviously biased piece of propaganda which only results in more cyber bullying. You only have to look at the comments that result whenever these lies are spread. Every angry face on a post and every comment that is making judgements about these families shows how much bullying has just become the norm. This should not be encouraged. I do not know when being constantly attacked with false information has become acceptable. I fail to see how thinking inciting hate and bullying is moral or ethical behavior (regardless of what our current administration does.) You may think this screening is some sort of expose, but it is simply another vehicle spreading lies and hate. The ramifications of hate and bullying are hardly positive, productive or give anyone credibility who engages in it. It is your decision to screen hate propaganda and spread lies against people you have never met, if so, that is your choice and on your conscience. You are effectively participating in the demise of Thai elephant culture and Thai elephantsʼ extinction. Much more scientific and truthful information is available here: https://elephantsandtheirpeople.wordpress.com/.../dont-be-fo.../ https://elephantsandtheirpeople.wordpress.com/.../thailands-.../ https://elephantsandtheirpeople.wordpress.com/.../when-your-.../