Introduced and framed by the narration of the almighty Attenborough, this decade-old doc charts the life and legacy of a single individual elephant called Echo. After his touching introduction there follows a strangely bleak sequence of mourning from distraught members of Amboseli Elephant Research Project and the programme never really recovers its mojo thereafter. It's a scattershot examination of an animal's life on screen as well as the immediate aftermath on the herd structure - there are some heavy-handed attempts at narrative that don't quite work and as usual you're left pondering about the unspoken framework here which is only really touched upon - the evolution of the Amboseli Elephant Research structure around Echo and the impact of the scientific findings on the global perceptions of elephants. Instead it's all rather shallow and emotive, and as much as you feel for Moss and her team losing creatures they've studied you've got to wonder if this is the real legacy that Echo leaves behind. THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM PERHAPS.
I'LL STOP NOW.
I'LL STOP NOW.
