Released in 2022 and directed by Trevor Frost and Melissa Lesh, Wildcat is a documentary that reaches deep into the heart of human suffering and the surprising places we find healing. The film follows Harry Turner, a young British veteran carrying the invisible scars of war, as he travels to the Peruvian Amazon to care for an orphaned ocelot named Keanu. What starts as a wildlife rescue mission transforms into something far more profound: a story about trauma, connection, and the slow, difficult work of putting a life back together.
Harry’s struggle with PTSD anchors the entire film. After his service in Afghanistan, he returns home broken in ways that don’t show on the outside. Depression stalks him. Anxiety grips him. He feels untethered from the world, unable to find his footing in civilian life. The Amazon becomes both refuge and proving ground, a place where he can escape the weight of his past while searching for something to hold onto.
The filmmakers don’t soften these realities. Through raw interviews and intimate footage, we see Harry at his lowest points. We witness his self-doubt, his despair, his desperate attempts to make sense of what war did to him. His vulnerability feels uncomfortably real, but that honesty makes his journey resonate. This is what it looks like when someone fights to reclaim their life. This is the face of invisible wounds that too many veterans carry alone.
Then comes Keanu. The tiny, orphaned ocelot arrives needing constant care, and suddenly Harry has something beyond his own pain to focus on. Raising a wild animal requires patience, tenderness, and unwavering dedication. Through the daily work of feeding, protecting, and teaching this small creature, Harry begins to find purpose again. Small moments of joy start breaking through the darkness. Connection becomes possible.
The bond between man and cat forms the emotional core of Wildcat. Watching Harry care for Keanu, you see something shift. The act of helping another vulnerable being creates space for Harry to face his own vulnerability. As Keanu grows from helpless cub to confident young ocelot, Harry undergoes his own transformation. Their parallel journeys mirror each other beautifully. Keanu isn’t just a wild animal in need of rescue; he becomes a symbol of what healing can look like when we find something worth fighting for.
The Amazon itself plays a crucial role in this story. The jungle is magnificent and merciless in equal measure. Its lush, untamed landscape stands in sharp contrast to the rigid structure of military life. For Harry, this wilderness offers a chance to rebuild himself from scratch, to learn survival on different terms. Here, success depends on adaptability, on reading nature’s signals, on respecting forces beyond human control.
But the jungle demands much in return. The film captures the harsh realities of life in such a remote place. Treacherous terrain tests Harry physically. The constant presence of predators keeps him alert. The isolation amplifies every fear and insecurity. Yet these very challenges force him to confront what he’s been running from. In the struggle to survive and help Keanu survive, Harry discovers reserves of strength he didn’t know he still possessed.
At its deepest level, Wildcat explores what it means to connect. Connection between species. Connection with nature. Connection to purpose. The film shows how empathy and compassion can reach across the boundaries we usually maintain. Through caring for Keanu, Harry learns to extend that same compassion toward himself. He begins to accept his vulnerability rather than fighting it. He finds meaning not in grand gestures but in the daily work of showing up for another living being.
The documentary also doesn’t shy away from complex ethical questions about conservation. While Harry’s love for Keanu is genuine and his dedication absolute, the film acknowledges the challenges of preparing a captive-raised animal for life in the wild. Can a human truly teach an ocelot to be wild? What responsibilities come with intervening in an animal’s life? These questions linger without easy answers, inviting viewers to think carefully about the delicate balance required when humans and wildlife intersect.
The conservation work happens at Hoja Nueva, a center founded by Samantha Zwicker in 2015 deep in the Peruvian Amazon. The center focuses on rescuing and rehabilitating carnivorous species like ocelots, while also working on broader conservation goals like biodiversity protection and sustainable community development. Operating in a remote area near the Las Piedras River, Hoja Nueva protects over 7,000 acres of rainforest threatened by illegal logging, mining, and poaching. The center’s work provides crucial context for understanding what Harry and Keanu’s story represents on a larger scale.
Visually, Wildcat is stunning. The filmmakers capture the Amazon’s breathtaking beauty in ways that make you feel the humidity, hear the constant buzz of insects, sense the density of the forest. Close-up shots of Keanu reveal his striking spotted coat and surprisingly expressive eyes. These moments remind us of the wild creatures at the center of conservation work, individuals with their own personalities and potential.
Emotionally, the film hits hard. It speaks to anyone who has felt lost, anyone searching for a reason to keep going, anyone who has found unexpected salvation in caring for something beyond themselves. Harry’s journey offers no quick fixes or easy resolutions. Healing happens slowly, through small acts repeated daily, through connection built moment by moment.
Wildcat celebrates resilience without romanticizing struggle. It shows redemption as a process, not a destination. Most powerfully, it demonstrates how love in its many forms can transform us. Love for an animal in need. Love for wild places. Love for the possibility that we can become more than our traumas. In showing one man’s path through darkness toward light, the film offers hope to anyone fighting their own battles. It reminds us that connection, whether to nature or to another being, can anchor us when everything else feels lost. Sometimes saving something else is how we save ourselves.
Further reading: Hoja Nueva
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