Rating: 3/5
Tiger King’ is the weirdest true-crime documentary that I have watched in a while. It starts with two sides of a conflict that profess how much they love animals, and then end up doing things that go the opposite way.
What starts off as a run-of-the-mill back and forth between breeders and rescuers turn into something with murder attempts, million-dollar lawsuits and even social media hate campaigns. ‘Tiger King’ is a handful.
The documentary has all the makings of a 70s American thriller, while what is shown is true and happened less than two decades ago. The backbone of the series is the titular breeder Joe Exotic, who lives up to his name by becoming a celebrity among exotic-pet lovers.
In due time, we see others like the “King” who run zoos just as exotic. Here, we are introduced to a tussle where Carole Baskin and her husband are introduced. We also see the oriental-sounding Bhagavan Kevin Antle, who is in the business of providing animals to Hollywood shoots.
Riding on a curve in the plot similar to that of a gangster movie, the documentary takes the story of Joe Exotic to its crescendo, before his fall after his conviction for attempting to murder Carole.
The exotic and oriental tints of these characters may not be a coincidence, with their life stories reminding you of fallen gurus and criminally insane spiritual leaders. Like their oriental counterparts, the breeders too have followers who take to them because they (the followers) are misfits in society, and realise what they are part of only when it’s too late.
A moment of epiphany happens towards the end of the documentary when Joe Exotic speaks about two chimpanzees that were held captive in his zoo in separate cages. When the two were released, they hugged each other, feeling the touch of one’s own kind after years. Joe tells us that this is what the once stood for, but the love for money got the better of him.