Despite it’s opening on April 1 at the 4-Star Theater, the documentary film “The Elephant in the Living Room” is no joke.
The film documents the controversial American subculture of raising dangerous animals as common household pets:
Director Michael Webber follows the journey of two men at the heart of the issue. One, Tim Harrison, a decorated police officer, firefighter and paramedic whose mission is to protect exotic animals and the public, and the other, Terry Brumfield, a big-hearted man who struggles to keep his two pet African lions that he loves like his own family.
David Chen of Slashfilm.com gives it four stars and says it’s “one of the best documentaries I’ve seen all year” (read the full review).
We used to have our own lion living in the neighborhood. Church of Satan High Priest Anton LaVey lived out on California near 24th Avenue. He was well-known by neighbors for his pet lion which he kept in a cage in the house.
On the Outside Lands website, one former neighbor writes, “He would drive around in a station wagon with a lion…yes a real live lion…in the rear of the car.” That is until the neighborhood could no longer stand the animal’s bellowing roars. He was eventually shipped off to the zoo and then to a private animal farm.
The 4-Star Theater is located on the corner of Clement and 22nd Avenue. “The Elephant in the Living Room” opens on Friday, April 1.
Sarah B.