One doesn't need to have experienced office life to connect with the characters in Do Elephants Pray; one doesn't need to have spent days wandering a forest in an office suit to enjoy Do Elephants Pray. One does, however, need to relate to what it must feel like to be in either situation to be fully immersed in the world that writer-director team Jonnie Hurn and Paul Hills conjure up on the screen.
Their starting point is not the cliché of disparaging a 9 to 5 existence; they draw characters whose work is part of who they are. Callum used the proceeds from the sale of his house to set-up an advertising agency in London with his long-term friend Sark. The symbolism is not lost on the viewer - the character has sacrificed his home in order to pursue his dream of independence at work.
Where the forest and the office meet is the legacy of millions of years of primal behaviour that these past few millennia of human civilisation have yet to tame. On the boardroom table, the struggle for power, that we euphemistically call "office politics", is over who creates a product campaign theme for an important client; it may as well be about who becomes the chief of the clan. For a senior member of staff - or is it the chief in waiting - named Marrlen, wants to make the pitch himself; he is after the chief's position.
The haven of calm in which Callum takes refuge from the battle at work is a Tai Chi class and the budding emotions he's developing for a fellow student.
These two worlds throw up a third plateau that sees Callum leave town and head to a magical French forest led by Malika, a young woman free from the burdens of the day-to- day that stifle Callum's sense of purpose. This return to a "state of nature" is one where the stones and sticks of office politics are pushed into the background by Malika's exuberance and zest for life; she takes Callum deeper and deeper into the forest and closer to the point of equilibrium he yearns for. When he returns from a swim in the "Lake of No Return" we feel a change is afoot; a change for the serene.
Rather than opt for the obvious happy ending, the makers of Do Elephants Pray take us back to the story's starting point, allowing Callum to share with us his newfound lucidity and sense of purpose as he hooks himself back into the realms of the office and the Tai Chi class.
Director Paul Hills successfully guides his leads through the opposing and overlapping tug of materialism and mysticism at this juncture in the life of the characters. Inspiring performances from Jonnie Hurn, Julie Dray and Mark Warren.
Highly recommended.
Their starting point is not the cliché of disparaging a 9 to 5 existence; they draw characters whose work is part of who they are. Callum used the proceeds from the sale of his house to set-up an advertising agency in London with his long-term friend Sark. The symbolism is not lost on the viewer - the character has sacrificed his home in order to pursue his dream of independence at work.
Where the forest and the office meet is the legacy of millions of years of primal behaviour that these past few millennia of human civilisation have yet to tame. On the boardroom table, the struggle for power, that we euphemistically call "office politics", is over who creates a product campaign theme for an important client; it may as well be about who becomes the chief of the clan. For a senior member of staff - or is it the chief in waiting - named Marrlen, wants to make the pitch himself; he is after the chief's position.
The haven of calm in which Callum takes refuge from the battle at work is a Tai Chi class and the budding emotions he's developing for a fellow student.
These two worlds throw up a third plateau that sees Callum leave town and head to a magical French forest led by Malika, a young woman free from the burdens of the day-to- day that stifle Callum's sense of purpose. This return to a "state of nature" is one where the stones and sticks of office politics are pushed into the background by Malika's exuberance and zest for life; she takes Callum deeper and deeper into the forest and closer to the point of equilibrium he yearns for. When he returns from a swim in the "Lake of No Return" we feel a change is afoot; a change for the serene.
Rather than opt for the obvious happy ending, the makers of Do Elephants Pray take us back to the story's starting point, allowing Callum to share with us his newfound lucidity and sense of purpose as he hooks himself back into the realms of the office and the Tai Chi class.
Director Paul Hills successfully guides his leads through the opposing and overlapping tug of materialism and mysticism at this juncture in the life of the characters. Inspiring performances from Jonnie Hurn, Julie Dray and Mark Warren.
Highly recommended.