OLD ELEPHANT ROUTE
OLD ELEPHANT ROUTE
PHILIPPE GAUTIER
Italy / 2001 / 52'
OLD ELEPHANT ROUTE
PHILIPPE GAUTIER
Italy / 2001 / 52'

The elephant trail is an Indian myth, but also a reality. In order to study the character and habits of the elephants, a young Indian researcher, educated in the West, walks the famous (and mysterious) trail of over 340 kilometres from Assan, in India, to North Burma. Owing to the dangers along the route (forests, torrents, screes), the young scholar is accompanied by two compatriots who are also interested in discovering whether this is really the route the migratory elephants take even today.
At the end of the long march the enterprising Indian girl is able to prove the trail is still used by the elephants, which she has had the privilege of studying at close quarters. Her expedition will also help to make the government authorities aware of the necessity to safeguard the Asiatic elephants that are threatened with extinction by the new conditions of life.
The film is interesting because (also with the help of scientific information, etc.) it portrays a little known and hardly ever shown local situation and is interpreted by the intrepid figure of a woman.

Director

PHILIPPE GAUTIER