Before
I begin with the Drafthouse Films’ restoration and re-release of Noel
Marshall’s deathly dangerous labor of love and home movie Roar, I have to quote Roger Ebert’s review of John Waters’ Pink Flamingos: “How do you review a movie like this?” To attempt to break this down objectively and
analyze it as a film is more difficult than you’d initially think. Neither a dramatic piece of storytelling nor
a documentary, Roar occupies that
rare, bizarre island of misfit toys where we’re not sure how to regard the film
in question as anything other than a curious object.
 |
| "Damn you, lion. I don't wanna make out right now!!!" |
Coming
off the success of producing William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, Noel Marshall garnered enough financial clout to
throw at whatever he wanted, which quickly turned into raising lion cubs to
adulthood and living with them at home.
Eventually ballooning into a thinly veiled idea of a wildlife
preservation film, Roar seemed like
the kind of home movie that was as misguided, unplanned and unprofessional of
an endeavor only Hollywood types as out of touch with reality as the Marshalls
could have made. Enlisting his own
family as the cast, cinematographer Jan De Bont (director of Speed and Twister), a professional Hollywood crew and over 110 wild animals
including but not limited to elephants, lions and tigers, thus began what has
gone down in Hollywood history as the most dangerous film ever made.
Over
70 members of the cast and crew suffered major injuries, including scalp
injuries to De Bont and Melanie Griffith.
What’s more, most of the maulings happen right in front of the camera in
scene after scene, with the bearded, maniacal Marshall running wildly with open
arms to break up lion fights and wrestle with animals who have no problem
taking his head in their jaws over and over.
The chaos and terror on the set of this thing is palpable with actors
running away in fear for their lives as they’re chased, jumped, bitten and
scratched by these animals. While an
argument can be made as to who was more irresponsibly insane, Noel Marshall or
the late Timothy Treadwell of Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man, the sheer number of injuries involved on the set of Roar speaks volumes. Watching Roar,
it’s kind of amazing to see just how far Marshall got with dragging his family
and numerous professionals into an obviously life threatening situation. Reportedly one of the sons, John, attested
Noel wouldn’t yell cut even as his family cried out in terror as they were
being savaged by lions.
 |
At
the end of the day, does Roar work as
a film? Not really, no. There’s not really a story or a script to
speak of here, just a bunch of footage of animal attacks on humans shot in
widescreen and hastily edited together into something vaguely resembling a
film. It’s not an informative Discovery
Channel documentary that will enrich your knowledge of wild animals. But in terms of the sheer shock and awe on
display of a group of people in Hollywood who thought they were above natural
order and could live happily with dangerous animals, Roar will more than exceed your expectations in terms of how it
will floor you with its exploitation.
You really just cannot believe what you’re seeing as four lions bite and
claw at Marshall while also playing tug of war with a bandage he’s desperately
trying to wrap around his hand dripping with fresh blood. If you thought the antics of people like
Treadwell or Steve Irwin were jaw dropping with how close to death they placed
themselves, you either forgot about Roar or
never knew of it. Nothing like Roar has ever happened before and
hopefully nothing like it will happen again.
It is, without a doubt, the most deeply insane film I have ever laid
eyes on.
-Andrew Kotwicki
