Can we finally free the animals from the circus? Story of those who made it and a movie to see

Seriously, but how it is possible that the Circus with animals Could you like? Who would really like to see a lion on a stroboscopic ball or A tiger on the shoulders of a horse that pulls a cart with a bear with a muzzle on top? This is one of the first images of the film The last show, the story of a liberationthe film by Andrea Morabitoproduced by Lav with the support of the shareholders, which we can all see in theaters At the cinema these 7, 8, 9 April 2025.

A film that is beautiful and right to see, because in addition to those first sad images, This is a film that talks about a victory. It says that 20 of those animals have been freed and were able to live a happier life. It tells of volunteers, lawyers, people, who have believed in their liberation, of a process that has marked a legislative precedent that (perhaps) will allow us to be more righteous towards animals and more human. Tells of a long struggle: 14 years have passed since the volunteer Lav Roberto Corona went to Circus Martin in Cagliari And he saw that show, and resumed the animals, humiliated, mistreated: the lioness lying on the scorching asphalt to wait for his performance (naturally private of the claws so as not to be dangerous), the elephant who swings next to the truck in a typical attitude of stress, the hippopotamus With the sun burned in the sun, in short, the private animals of all their ethology to be only puppets. Since then, after complaints, hitches, processes, finally, in 2024 we arrived to the definitive sentence for animal abuse of the Circus Martin and its owners and the seizure of the animals.

In the film we will see the truck that leaves Sardinia and brings animals to theWild Sanctuary animanatura of Semproniano, in Tuscany, where they are still today: the field of the Ali and the horse Karim (which arrived reduced skin and bones), the peru blade, the zebra arturo and also the Rodrigo parrot. There Leonessa Elsathere, he also found a life partner, the lion Madibakidnapped to another circus and symbol of the incredible resistance of the animals: he arrived at the center that weighed 60 kg and without hair and returned to weigh 240!. Seeing them rolling together in the lawn and hearing their roars from the screen is a joy. In short, we will see the film and leave the room, a little sad but happy, a little more convinced of our ethical choices (if needed) And with a little more hope for the 2,000 animals that are still imprisoned in Italian circuses.

But because, in fact, these animals are still there, since Doxa says that over 76% of Italians a circus show with animals no longer want to see it anymore? Furthermore, changing the show type, it could be a positive revolution also for the future of the circus itself, which – as Gianluca Felicetti, president of Lav – comments It could thus become a “truly human” circusin all senses: a show that focuses artists, does not use animals and likes people. The change is close, we have been chasing him for years, but we are coming to us: the signature of Minister Giuli to the implementation decree of the delegated law on the show that will finally prohibit the use of animals in the circus – Just as 50 countries have already chosen in the world – It is expected, after various extensions, for this August 18, 2025. This time it must not jump, and this is another, and perhaps the best reason, to see this film.

But then, why humiliate animals in shows that almost have ridicule? Who knows, perhaps once the circus with animals, in addition to showing them, brought with him a apotropaic sense: He told the frightened men who could do it, who were strong enough to tame dangerous fairs. Perhaps. Because in reality in the ancient pagan rite, even the most bloody, the animal is often divine. The animal as messenger of the Great Mother, nature. But Perhaps the problem is precisely this: we have lost meaning, contact – and above all respect – towards nature. Perhaps the problem is this suffocating presumption and this rampant individualism that make our species – and indeed every individual of our species – is considered able to do without nature and indeed to vexing it in every way. This superiority is subtle, it lurks well beyond the circus. It manifests itself, for example, when we say we love animals but we do not ask ourselves what we put on the plate, or when we think it is educational and fun to bring the children to see an animal closed in cage at the zoo or a dolphin that jumps to the command of a whistle in the aquarium, or when we defraide, pollute, we consume. Even just When we ask that the condominium tree is cut because it is shaded without asking those who live there (and there are dozens of other species that have home), or when we believe that Our pleasure of scoring in the woods without paying attention, is more important than right of a bear to live there (see Trentino).

«I think this film is also to be seen to remember that the fate of these animals is that in our human species. Their treatment, their safeguard, concerns the civilization or not of our society», He commented President Lav Gianluca Felicettiwith its usual ability to see enlightened lines of thoughts. So this is why going to the cinema to see this film: to be a little more civilized, and for being human in the best sense of the word.

The hippopotamus, of the Africa circus one of the images of the film.