When does a documentary become a thriller? It’s when the camera is allowed to follow a real-life, unscripted man-hunt with passion, risk, and danger. Elizabeth Unger, adventurist and National Geographic Explorer, convinced Chief Protection Officer Marcos Uzquiano to let her follow his Bolivian team as they hunted poachers who tracked jaguars in the thickly verdant jungles of the deep, dark Madidi National Park. Meeting up with either stealthy predator could mean their immediate demise.
“Tigre Gente” is a cinéma vérité adventure-mystery documentary that took more than six years to make. It opens with a majestic panorama of the Madidi Forest. There is dark and there is light – in reality and in spirit. (CONTINUED)