Long synopsis : 1870. Young Scottish doctor Jamie Dodd and adventuress Elena van den Ende journey into the dark heart of unexplored Equatorial Africa in search of the origins of Mankind. Returning to Edinburgh with two captured pygmies, Toko and Likola, dreaming of glorious posterity, Jamie immerses himself in the study of these 'missing links'. But the pygmies' mute presence drives a wedge between him and his colleagues, who consider Toko and Likola nothing more than living specimens. Jamie comes to acknowledge his captives as intelligent, sentient fellow beings, provoking scorn and eventual exclusion from the scientific community. Cruelly exhibited at Edinburgh Zoo, the pygmies are condemned to a bleak future of humiliation and degradation.

Cast

• Joseph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Iain Glen, Hugh Bonneville, Lomama Boseki, Cécile Bayiha

Crew

• Producer(s): Farid Lahouassa
• Director(s): Régis Wargnier
• Screenplay: William Boyd, Michel Fessler, Fred Fougea, Régis Wargnier
• DP: Laurent Dailland
• Editing: Yann Malcor
• Original Music: Patrick Doyle
• Set Design: Maria Djurkovic

• Genre(s): Drama


• Production company: VERTIGO PRODUCTION, FRANCE 2 CINEMA, FRANCE 3 CINEMA
• Production date: 2004
• Language: English
• Duration: 122 min
• Image Ratio: 1.85
• Sound Info: Dolby SRD / DTS