Wild Life

The documentary tells the life and the work of the conservationist Kris Tompkins. Kris and Doug Tompkins meet in middle age and come together. Both leave behind the world of the large outdoor brands they had helped to build. What follows they give over to creating national parks in Chile and Argentina. The film tells what that effort brought and what it cost. The account builds it as a love story at the same time; the shared work of two people and their relationship are not separated. The step described as the largest private land donation in history is where the account arrives, and that description is the film’s own wording. Kris Tompkins and Rick Ridgeway speak in their own words. The ninety three minute American documentary by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi was completed in 2023.