AFI Fest 2025: Ghost Elephants
2025 AFI Fest
Few filmmakers have the catalog and continued drive to explore as Werner Herzog. Both with his narrative features and documentary works, the filmmaker shows no signs of slowing down and continues to travel the globe to ask big questions from subjects spanning all types. Screening as part of AFI Fest 2025, Herzog's newest feature, Ghost Elephants, sees the filmmaker travel to Africa alongside Steve Boyes, who has been studying the mysterious ghost elephants of the highlands of Angola. While there has been evidence collected that shows there are elephants living in this region, they have rarely been seen, and Boyes hopes to collect genetic information of these elephants to see if they are related to other elephants in the region, or if they are possibly a new subspecies.
Despite the film being released through National Geographic and being about the search for elephants, Ghost Elephants is far from existing as just a nature documentary; instead, it finds the complexity one would expect from a Herzog documentary. Much of this comes from the film's focus on Boyes. Working for over a decade on finding and documenting these elephants, they are Boyes' white whale and are his ultimate dream. Now, Boyes sits on the verge of achieving this dream, and Herzog pokes at this idea. Much of life is designed to celebrate the idea of following one's dream, and Herzog has a rare opportunity to question someone who is about to cross this line. The film asks if it is better actually to accomplish a dream or if the greater thrill is in the pursuit of this dream. In other words, is the reward in the journey or the destination? Boyes, and the film at large, sits with this question and ponders it in Herzog's deepest character study since 2005's Grizzly Man, which sought to find understanding in the life and death of Timothy Treadwell. It is notable that Boyes is not portrayed as dangerous or delusional in his journey, as is often the case with Herzog's subjects. Boyes is logical, smart, and adventurous in a way that is inspiring. There is a poignancy to this conversation that hits deep, asking the audience to also consider their own path in life and question what fulfillment is in the human experience.
The film has a variety of other topics that also reside in its 98-minute runtime. Set in Africa, with Boyes gaining the assistance of a group of hunters from Namibia, the film reflects on history, both in the colonization of Africa and deeper human evolution, with life itself being born out of these lands. Herzog also engages in a conversation on the history of big game hunting, comparing the killing of elephants to the murder of the American Buffalo and the deeper roots of these actions. Ghost Elephants questions man's obsession with destroying the world he was born in, incorporating vignettes including clips from the 1966 documentary Africa Addio where graphic footage of an elephant hunt is displayed. More spiritually, the film wonders if there is a way out of this mess. As the team travels to find these elephants, they hold meetings with local Kings and tribe officials, with the belief being that if they do not follow ancient tradition, they will not be successful in their journey.
Herzog asks if returning to this tradition might be the answer, but he ultimately rejects the idea. While Ghost Elephants follows a scientific breakthrough, the film is far from a religious experience for the soul. Herzog refuses to romanticize the elephants, Boyes' journey, or the state of the world. The film is explicit in saying that there is no real power in these elephants, nothing truly will be learned from them that is ultimately meaningful for Boyes or the audience at home. This journey is not a mythical adventure that will change the world or fix our problems. Still, the group rises every day to track these elephants, and in this ritual, there is a meaning to be found.
Ghost Elephants immediately takes the title of being one of Herzog's best. The film has the depth and weight to move with power, always keeping the audience engaged and curious. The film takes this simplistic journey of venturing into the wild to find elephants and elevates itself over and over again, delving deep into every narrative cavern and emerging with riches.
