The universe within animal parks is not so idyllic. The documentary series made in Netflix, "In the kingdom of wild beasts", depicts us a deep America that scares, where it is about tigers, rivalries and murders …
Blond mule, open sequin shirt on tattooed chest, pistol on his belt and baby lion cub in his arms. This unusual person is called Joe Exotic, and he's the dramatic "hero" of the Netflix documentary mini-series, "In the kingdom of wild beasts".
Formerly the manager of an animal park, country singer, star of his reality TV show and politician, the man was sentenced last January to 22 years in prison in Oklahoma. Because behind his jovial air of colorful cowboy hides a character tortured by his rivalry with Carole Baskin. He tried many times to sponsor the murder of the latter. He was also found guilty of killing the tigers he kept in his wildlife park.
A struggle between two egos
Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin are like the sworn enemies of a literary saga. On the one hand, you have Joe, "a gun-obsessed gay mule cowboy "(he defines himself like that), and that has more than two hundred cats in a funny animal park. The man spins his establishment with large selfie shots with tiger cubs and through the sale of T-shirts in his likeness.
On the other, you have Carole Baskin, dressed from head to toe in leopard patterns, director of a cat shelter in Florida.
Since his beginnings, Joseph Maldonado-Passage of his real name, had chosen to make his zoo a place of entertainment, organizing shows with animals. Children could play with them. Year after year, the park has earned enough money to buy more and more animals and hire many employees. With success came questions, especially from animal rights activists like Carole Baskin, who viewed his exotic animals very badly.
The director of Big Cat Rescue, therefore tirelessly tracks down all owners of animal centers who do not respect the well-being of their residents. To the point of putting many people on their backs, including Joe Exotic. To face up, the cowboy launched a real campaign of denunciation towards his enemy via a music clip or via his online broadcast on the Internet. He accuses her of having killed her millionaire husband to recover her money and possessions.
Other litigation has come over the years to mingle in the catastrophic life of Joe Exotic. A screenwriter could never have compiled so many events. In summary, we are talking about drugs, slave healers, big bills, polygamy turning to sectarian, manipulations, thugs, undercover agent, FBI, bankruptcy and death.
Netflix and the seven episodes plunge the spectators into a life story which rises crescendo towards the total "trash". The animal cause becomes the breeding ground for a very human war, where the lowest instincts give way. And unfortunately the animals are neglected.
Following the verdict in January, Joe Exotic posted on Facebook, claiming to be innocent and appealing the decision.
"If I did not experience this for real, I would never think that in America the government could really take part in such lies to advance an animal rights program. But again, look at what they are doing to our own president ", could we read.
"Our justice system is so broken ".