Jon Kasbe’s documentary starting “X”, his assistant Luckas and his cousin Asan was very well executed. There are so many frameworks that were used to alleviate the story and make the reader feel part of it. In Kenya, there are many illegal activities that locals have to do to survive. This is exactly what “X” did. Following in his fathers’ footsteps “X” became a poacher to help his family and be praised by them.
There was a dramatic arc in the film when the rangers were introduced because it brought up a conflict for “X”. What surprised me the most was how the film focused on X and why he was doing what hes doing and how. Then we see him going to the rangers who are the ones that are supposed to stop/catch him and finding out one of them is his cousin who knows about his work.
I feel like the way the story of their lives and struggles as told in the documentary was good. For instance, Asan started by saying if his son were to become a poacher he would shoot him, but they ends up helping X to get the job done. There was another moment when I felt like the filmmakers made me feel as if we were in their situation. When Lukas, X, and the others were trying to hunt the elephant and successfully shot him they realize that there were rangers nearby and they start to run. This part of the story was also very impactful because X was there and we knew that he had a fear of dying as his father did.
The turning point when X gives up being a poacher and goes to join the rangers was almost unexpected but gave the readers a full circle. Similar to finding out that Asan left the rangers and started looking for another job to help his family
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