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'Trophy'

U.S. Documentary; 108 minutes.

There are no easy targets in "Trophy," a documentary that offers some challenging perspectives on the environmental effects of big-game hunting.

To Philip Glass, a prosperous Texan who dreams of bagging the Big 5 of African game animals (lion, elephant, cape buffalo, leopard and rhino), hunting is a family tradition and ordained by the Bible — the part in Genesis about having dominion over the animals.

To John Hume, a South African developer who has bankrolled a vast rhino breeding ground, it's all about raising rhinos and harvesting their horns (they grow back in two years) to keep poachers from killing them — that is, if he can get the South African government to lift its moratorium on legal sale of the horns.

To Christo Gomes, another South African, it's about selling safari adventures to rich Americans like Glass at conventions in Las Vegas.

And to Chris Moore, a wildlife officer in Zimbabwe, it's realizing that the Western idea of preserving all wild animals may not work with poor villagers who see lions killing their livestock and elephants trampling their crops.

Director Shaul Schwarz and co-director Christina Clusiau weave these stories together with arresting images to make a thoughtful film that doesn't offer pat answers. The filmmakers know the best they can hope for with this thorny issue is to start a conversation that isn't easily finished.

– Sean P. Means —

Also showing:

"Trophy" screens again at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival at the following times and venues:

• Saturday, Jan. 21, noon, Temple Theatre, Park City

• Saturday, Jan. 21, 9 p.m., Broadway Centre Cinema 6, Salt Lake City

• Sunday, Jan. 22, noon, Sundance Mountain Resort Screening Room

• Wednesday, Jan. 25, 6:30 p.m., Redstone Cinema 1, Park City

• Friday, Jan. 27, 2:30 p.m., Prospector Square Theatre, Park City