Duma is a 2005 film directed by Carroll Ballard (The Black Stallion, Fly Away Home, Never Cry Wolf), distributed by Warner Bros.
In South Africa, a cheetah cub is orphaned after his mother is killed by lions. Wandering outside the protected reserve where he lives, he's rescued and hand-raised by 12-year-old Xan (Alex Michaeletos) and his parents. As time passes, the cub, now named Duma, becomes one of the family. Once Duma reaches maturity, Xan and his dad, Peter (Campbell Scott), make plans to send him back to the wild (albeit with some reluctance on Xan's part).
Suddenly, Peter falls ill and dies. Xan's mother, Kristin (Hope Davis), is forced to lease the farm and move the family to Johannesburg, where they stay with her sister. On their first day in the city, Duma escapes and visits Xan's school, causing an uproar. To keep them from being separated by the authorities, Xan takes Duma on an epic journey over the border into Botswana to set the cheetah free, as Peter had planned. Along the way, they team up with Ripkuna (Eamonn Walker), a drifter who may have designs on Duma himself, and Xan comes to terms with his father's death.
Duma provides examples of:
- Bathroom Brawl: A fight starts when bullies descend on Xan in the restroom of his school, until Duma interrupts.
- A Boy and His X: The story centers around a boy who adopts an orphaned cheetah cub, and forms a strong bond with him.
- Bittersweet Ending: Come film's end, Xan and Duma have gone their separate ways, and will likely never see each other again.
- Character Narrator: Xan provides voiceover narration at a few points in the film, notably to wrap thing up at the end.
- Chekhov's Skill: Early in the film we see Peter teaching Xan how to drive the motorbike, which explains how he's later able to drive off with Duma despite his young age.
- Dark and Troubled Past: When we first meet Ripkuna, he doesn't offer many hints as to his backstory. Later on, we learn that he left his village to find a better life for himself, but ultimately failed, and has wandered aimlessly ever since, regretting leaving his family. By film's end, he's back home to stay.
- The Disease That Shall Not Be Named: We're never told what Peter's illness is nor do we even see what his symptoms are. Xan's narration just says he got "sick."
- A Dog Named "Dog": Duma is the word for cheetah in Swahili; Kristin suggests the name after Xan tries calling the cub such clichéd names as "Spots," "Speedy," or "Fuzzy."
- Gory Discretion Shot: When Duma's mother is killed, the camera cuts back to her cubs as soon as the lion catches her.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Downplayed. Toward the end, Ripkuna shields Xan from a swarm of tsetse flies, letting himself get bitten instead. Luckily, Xan finds someone to help treat the ensuing sleeping sickness.
- I Will Find You: After Xan and Duma run away, Kristin sets out to find them.
- "Just So" Story: Ripkuna tells one about why cheetahs have "tear lines" running from their eyes to their mouths."There was a mother cheetah. She loved her cub very much. Then, one day, he got lost. And she searched and she searched, and she called and she called... And she cried so long and so hard, that her tears made black streaks down her face."
- Killed Offscreen: In addition to Duma's mother, it's implied that his brothers and sisters were also killed by the lions (unless they moved on after killing the mother cheetah).
- The Mourning After: After Peter's sudden death, Xan grieves for much of the film's run time. He opens up about it to Ripkuna later in the story. Rip sympathizes with his feelings, but reminds the boy that the nature of life and death is unpredictable, and none of us know how long we have to live. This, along with seeing Duma go free, helps Xan to let go of his grief.
- Pet Baby Wild Animal: Duma wanders away from the den after his mother's death, and is picked up by Xan and Peter outside the reserve fence. He grows to adulthood on their farm.
- Raised in Captivity: After finding him, Xan hand-rears Duma with his parents' help, and Duma begins to view the farm as his home.
- Scenery Porn: There's a ton of beautiful shots of the African veldt, where most of the action takes place.
- The Swarm: A swarm of tsetse flies suddenly descends on Xan and Ripkuna at one point.
- Time-Compression Montage: The year or so that it takes for Duma to grow from cub to adult is done in a montage, which also illustrates Xan learning practical skills from his father.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The story that inspired the film was written down in the book How It Was with Dooms, by Kenyan native Carol Cawthra-Hopcraft, and her son, Xan. Unlike his film counterpart, Dooms never returned to the wild.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: As the end credits begin, we see Xan settling back into life on the farm, and Duma living wild with another cheetah whom he met before saying goodbye to his human friend.
