A lone pangolin pup, newly christened Kulu, emerges from the shadowy world of wildlife trafficking into the careful guardianship of Gareth Thomas. Rescued by a sting operation and shuttled from Johannesburg’s veterinary wards to the vast expanse of the Lapalala Wilderness Reserve, Kulu becomes both subject and partner in a six‑month campaign of rehabilitation. Director Pippa Ehrlich, riding the acclaim of her Oscar win for My Octopus Teacher, turns her lens once more toward an unlikely protagonist, this time a scaly anteater whose armor and elegance feel almost prehistoric.

Released on Netflix on April 21, 2025, the film unfolds like a whispered parable: a study in trust, vulnerability, and the fragile boundary between salvation and abandonment. The visual language is lush—every glint on Kulu’s scales, every gust of golden light through the grasses rendered with painterly precision. Yet the focus remains on the intimate pulse of human commitment: Thomas’s early‑morning forays,...