Askari (2001)

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A helicopter accident leaves 16 years old Emma Crawshay (Amanda Fuller) orphaned & sent to live with her Aunt Paula & Uncle Joss on a wild African game farm. On her arrival however, tensions are brought to the fore.Her aunt, Paula McKinley (Marlee Matlin), a beautiful and respected elephant… More A helicopter accident leaves 16 years old Emma Crawshay (Amanda Fuller) orphaned & sent to live with her Aunt Paula & Uncle Joss on a wild African game farm. On her arrival however, tensions are brought to the fore.Her aunt, Paula McKinley (Marlee Matlin), a beautiful and respected elephant conservationist, is fighting to come to terms with her sister's death and buries herself in her work. Paula virtually ignores her niece: Emma who only serves as a painful reminder of her own loss.Their mutual love of elephants however, gradually brings Paula & Emma together, and helps them to deal with their grief. Emma quickly finds her favorite, a cheeky young elephant named 'Ollie' & through him she comes to cherish her new environment.However, Paula's husband, Joss McKinley (C. Thomas Howell) the game warden has a secret he's hiding from both of them. Spiraling elephant numbers have resulted in overcrowding on the farm & Joss' sinister boss, Patrick Khumalo (Menzi Ngubane), forces him into agreeing to a cull.Torn between emotion & reason, the family becomes as threatened as the elephants themselves. Paula learns of the proposed cull, tearing her & Joss apart. She retreats once more into her grief, now brewing with a desperate anger.Set against the wild and beautiful scenery, Joss must battle an evil hunter, Ripshaw (Ian Roberts), & his mysterious tracker, Ndlovu (Ken Gampu) . . . two dangerous ivory poachers who kidnap 'Ollie' to sell overseas. Meanwhile, Patrick sets up the cull to wipe out hundreds of elephants, which will secretly make him & Ripshaw rich through illegal ivory trading.Their desperate attempt to save the elephants brings the family together in a finale as breathtaking and unforgiving as the African landscape itself . .