In a new preview for the upcoming Amazon Prime Video nature documentary Wildcat, a veteran of the British Army finally feels at home. Discharged from duty in Afghanistan with PTSD and despair, misunderstood young man Harry Turner is the film’s protagonist. He leaves home and travels far into the Amazon rainforest so that no one would ever know if he is dead or alive. Before he can carry out his plan, however, he meets American scientist Samantha Zwicker and offers to assist her by acting as a surrogate parent to a tiny, orphaned ocelot. After viewers are introduced to Turner and the issues that drove him to Peru, they are shown how Turner found purpose in his work with Zwicker. Turner describes their unexpected meeting as “life-changing” because it provided him with an opportunity to be a part of something greater than himself.
Over the course of their time together, Zwicker has seen him transform from a misunderstood, lost soul who had abandoned his studies in favour of military duty, into a significant other who had plenty of passion for the causes she cared about. As Turner finds his position with Zwicker, he does everything from transporting sloths through the rainforest to joining her for barbecues, and it’s all quite touching. But the wildcat in the title is the catalyst for their friendship. In order to stay alive, the small ocelot must rely on Zwicker and Turner for everything from sustenance and companionship to safety.
Turner may take satisfaction in protecting the helpless animal from the hands of poachers who would abuse it and the harsh facts of nature. However, he must conquer his own problems and commit fully to the surrogacy process in order to be the ideal carrier for the cat. Wildcat examines depression and the coping mechanisms that people employ to get through difficult times; for Turner, those coping mechanisms include Zwicker, the ocelot Keanu, and the wildness. Melissa Lesh, the creator of Emerging Earth Films, and Trevor Frost, a veteran photojournalist for National Geographic and the Washington Post, worked together on Wildcat. It’s Lesh’s first feature film; he directed and co-wrote the documentaries Fairy Shrimp and Odonates before this.
She premiered it at the Telluride Film Festival in September to positive reviews from numerous sites, who praised the way in which the film combined the style of a traditional nature documentary with a very personal concept. Alysa Nahmias of AJNA Films and Joshua Altman of Harmonium Pictures are among the producers. On December 21, Wildcat will open in select theatres, and on December 31, it will be available on Prime Video.