Lt Col John Henry Patterson was an civil engineer specializing in bridge building in the British Empire. He was commissioned to work in Africa to build a bridge across the river Tsavo in Kenya. Patterson had always wanted to work in Africa and his dream finally came true at the price of leaving his wife and unborn child back in England. In the year 1898 Patterson arrived in Kenya and took charge of the bridge building operations at Tsavo. Following his arrival, a lion attack was reported - a lion had killed and eaten a man who had wandered off in the night away from camp, the attacks increased to an extent that the entire workforce ran away. Patterson wrote a book on the events that followed with the title "Man eaters of Tsavo" and the movie "The Ghost and the Darkness" is closely based on this book.
Starring Val Kilmer as Col Patterson, Michael Douglas as an american hunter Charles Remigton and John Kani as Samuel, The Ghost and the Darness is a medium budget Hollywood movie released in the year 1996. Other important Characters include Brian Mccardie as Angus Starling, Bernard Hill as Dr David Hawthorn and Henry Cele as Mahina, Tom Wilkinson as Sir Robert Beaumont and Om Puri as Abdullah. The movie starts with Sir Robert Beaumont asking Col Patterson to travel to Africa and build a bridge across Tsavo to stay ahead of the French. Robert Beaumont is a very rude and selfish man as it turns out however Patterson accepts the deal and leaves for Africa. In doing so he has to leave his pregnant wife back in England. The director has show the separation in a touching yet in a retro manner where the display of affection is measured. In the following scene Patterson is seen with Angus Starling who has already been living in Africa seated at the front of a Steam Train. While on the train Patterson sees the African wildlife for the first time, he seems to love the event and he explains to Starling the behavior of many animals. Starling is startled to know how much Patterson already knows about the animals. Patterson finally arrives in Tsavo and he is introduced to Samuel who is a native, Dr Hawthorn and Abdullah who is the leader of the workers union. Soon after the arrival of Patterson, a lion attack takes place where a worker who had wandered away got killed and eaten. Patterson has some experience with hunting in India and so he and Starling place a goat as bait and sit up on a tree, a lion shows up and Patterson is able to kill it with one shot. The workforce is relieved that the man-eater is dead however the story has only begun.
In the following days, there are multiple lion attacks, workers get pulled out of their tents and eaten and one day Patterson responds to shouts, he along with Samuel and Starling chase down the lion between two sheds. While Patterson is about to pull the trigger he sees another lion on top of the shed, the lion pounces injuring Patterson and mauling Starling to death. Now Patterson has not one but two lions to handle and a workforce which under Abdullah is turning more and more violent and demands safety. Beaumont arrives at Tsavo to check the progress of the bridge and Patterson is startled to know that Beaumont did not bring the extra guards he had requested. Beaumont who is rude man blasts Patterson on his inability to kill two lions, he mocks Patterson’s contraption which he built to catch the lions and he sends out word to hire Charles Remington (Michael Douglas). The attacks resume after Beaumont leaves and workforce is furious, in the midst of a verbal standoff between Patterson and Abdullah, Remington arrives at the scene and diffuses the situation. Remington is an American who had fought in the Civil War ( for the confederates it is assumed), after he lost his family, he leaves America and travels to various parts of the world as a Hunter.
Remington’s character is fictional however for the movie it made a lot of sense to have this character. Remington and his Massai warriors along with Patterson set out on a hunt, they are able to round up one of the two lions and Patterson gets a clean line of sight, however when tries to fire, the gun jams. The lion runs away. The massai warriors now see the lions as spirits that can not be killed and refuse to help Remington any further. Following this, Remington advises Dr Hawthorne to shift his hospital to a location 1 mile away as the old hospital has a lot of smell of blood and the lions often try to get in. After the move, Remington and Patterson wait at the old hospital for the lions however; the lions attack the new hospital. By the time they arrive at the new hospital the lions have caused tremendous damage, Dr Hawthorne along with many patients is dead. The lions seem to enjoy killing people and are not motivated by hunger. After the slaughter at the hospital, the entire workforce leaves and it is up to Samuel, Patterson and Remington to kill the lions. They track down the pug marks of the lions to a cave in between some rocks where they find hundreds of human bones. Now even these two hunters are convinced that these lions are very different.
Since they are not able to find a vantage point to shoot the lions, Patterson builds a machan and sits on it. Remington and Samuel are away on trees. A baboon is tied as bait, the lion can be heard closing in on Patterson who has to rely on his ears as the night is very dark and there is a mist. An owl hits Patterson on his face, he loses his balance and falls to the ground. The lion goes for the kill however Patterson manages to hit it with a hand gun. The lion runs away but it is still around, Remington joins Patterson and they both look for the lion which leaps on them from a rock. Remington puts a bullet in the lion and it is dead before it hears the shot. That night Remington, Patterson and Samuel celebrate on their first success, they drink and go to sleep. In the morning, Patterson wakes up to a bad dream, he checks Remington’s tent and he is gone. Patterson follows the tracks to find Samuel standing in the tall grass looking at a pool of blood. The other lion had killed Remington and eaten him.
Patterson loses his mental balance and sets the jungle on fire, and that evening he is armed with a double barrel rifle and a bolt action rifle. He fires shots in the air to challenge the lion. Samuel leaves Patterson and walks away. Patterson starts walking up the bridge when suddenly the second lion jumps up in front of him from a hole in the bridge, Patterson fires at it in reflex action. Having heard the shot, Samuel runs towards Patterson. The lion is injured however it is very much alive and charges Patterson who runs for his life. Patterson climbs a tree and is unarmed. The lion also starts climbing. Samuel is not able to get a shot at the lion and he throws the rife at Patterson. The rifle is not able to make it and falls to the ground. Patterson decides to jump and he grabs hold of the rife. The lion also jumps to the ground and Patterson shoots, the first bullet critically injures the lion however it still crawls towards him and then Patterson fires the second shot when the lion is 3 feet away from his face. The lion is finally dead. In the following days the workforce returns and Patterson meets his wife and sees his son for the first time.
Verdict: Excellent suspense thriller with stellar performance and wonderful direction/screenplay/sound.
This movie deserves to be seen at least once.