I stumbled on this documentary one morning on BBC TV back in the early nineties. Who would have thought that capturing one woman's incredible relationships and communications could have left such a lasting impression? The film is touchingly intimate portrait of a person who suddenly realised she was being shown the experience of flight by an injured bird. Since then, Samantha has helped many animals and their 'owners', both in professional and personal environments. She also lectures from time to time to teach others how to communicate.
Scientists do not feature in the programme, but it still manages to emerge as a very credible documentary because owner after owner reveals how pet behaviour changed and settled for the better following a visit to Samantha. Whether it is goats changing instantaneously from the expensive habit of just eating flowers and leaves to eating stalks as well, or the exhausted racing horse who reveals that her time out on pasture was actually more time working under the care of a determined trainer against the owner's wishes . . . it all causes the viewer to raise incredibly important questions about consciousness and the role we can play with other species.
Perhaps the film succeeds most because it doesn't lecture. It simply recounts with what feels like simple, pure honesty and I defy you not to be changed after viewing it. It is an absolute gem.
Scientists do not feature in the programme, but it still manages to emerge as a very credible documentary because owner after owner reveals how pet behaviour changed and settled for the better following a visit to Samantha. Whether it is goats changing instantaneously from the expensive habit of just eating flowers and leaves to eating stalks as well, or the exhausted racing horse who reveals that her time out on pasture was actually more time working under the care of a determined trainer against the owner's wishes . . . it all causes the viewer to raise incredibly important questions about consciousness and the role we can play with other species.
Perhaps the film succeeds most because it doesn't lecture. It simply recounts with what feels like simple, pure honesty and I defy you not to be changed after viewing it. It is an absolute gem.