Bambi: major controversy, fans demand the film's cancellation

While a new Bambi movie has been announced, we learn that the feature film is causing controversy a few weeks before its release, to the point that some Internet users are asking for it to be canceled. We'll tell you everything!

Bambi: controversy against a backdrop of animal abuse

Released in 1942 as the world was experiencing the horror of World War II, Bambi is one of the most beloved animated classics from the Disney group. The fifth feature film from the studio then headed by Walt Disney, Bambi was the final film of its first golden age that began with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.Even today, the poetry of this masterpiece makes it an extremely popular film with audiences.

Like many Disney classics, Bambi is an adaptation of a novel, in this case the children's book Bambi: The Story of a Life in the Woods by Austrian writer Felix Salten. Published in 1923, the novel fell into the public domain last year.While Disney is working on a live-action adaptation, already at the heart of a controversy, the studios ITN Studios and Jagged Edge Productions are working on a horror version of the adventures of the young fawn, in the line of the film Winnie the Pooh. To discover the teaser, it's here.

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Today, it is another much more advanced project that is causing controversy. Indeed, expected for October 16, 2024 and told by singer Mylène Farmer,  Bambi, the story of a life in the woods is the new feature film by French filmmaker Michel Fessier, a close collaborator of Luc Jacquet, with whom he wrote March of the Penguins in 2004. The film has come under fire after animal protection group PAZ (Project Animals Zoopolis) accused the production of using “wild animal trainers”:

This film called upon wild animal trainers. For a few minutes on screen, the animals are deprived of their freedom for their entire lives and undergo the violence of training. Even though there are technical alternatives for representing animals on screen (computer-generated images, animatronics, video clips from image banks, etc.).

The association has launched a petition that has collected over 9,800 signatures at the time of writing, calling for its removal from the Montreux Film Festival. The signatories also explain that the feature film, through its use of captive wild animals, goes against the convictions of the writer Felix Salten, who published Captive Beasts in 1931, a novel strongly committed to opposing zoos.

For his part, Jean-Pierre Bailly, producer of the filmBambi, the story of a life in the woods, refutes these “dishonest accusations“. Claiming that no animals were mistreated during the filming of the movie, he says he witnessed “the ethics of animal keepers” in charge of wild animals. He also declares: “I have the impression that we are on the same side when it comes to animal protection.” As for the management of the Montreux Film Festival, it has given a final refusal to the signatories of the petition, by claiming its ambition to screen the film during the festival. “Our DNA is the debate. Since people want to argue about this film, it seems even more justified to us to program it“.

What do you think of this controversy? Do not hesitate to tell us in the comments space.