"When Elephants Were Young" is a brilliant, insightful, and sensitive new film from the Canadian film-making duo Patricia Sims and Michael Clark, whose previous documentary "Return to the Forest" (http://worldelephantday.org/about/return-to-the-forest), chronicled the successful and ongoing mission of the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation of Thailand in returning captive elephants to the wild. This new film, "When Elephants Were Young," details the life of Bangkok elephant Nong Mai and Nong Mai's young male mahout (caretaker and trainer), Wok. Nong Mai and Wok attempt to forge a living by illegally begging on the streets of Bangkok, facing indifference if not outright hostility at every turn. This is a demeaning development from a culture that once elevated the sacred elephant/human relationship that has existed since time immemorial. Narrated by William Shatner, the film is chock full of fascinating information about this age-old symbiotic dynamic. It articulates the integral role the intelligent and highly sentient Asian elephant has played in the successful development of the Thai economy and how intertwined the symbolism of the elephant is with the Buddhist culture that prevails in Thailand today. Nong Mai is like family to Wok, and we watch with heavy heart as together they try to retain some shred of dignity in the face of extreme hardship in their collective struggle to survive on the street. The film details how and why the fate of the Asian elephant has become so perilous, including how the tourism industry in Thailand has largely contributed to the elephants' deprivation and abuse. It discusses the decline in numbers of the Asian elephant population in Thailand (where there used to be 100,000 to 200,000 about 100 years ago there are now only roughly 4,000) and pinpoints the causative factor: a shrinkage of their range due to manifold forms of human encroachment. The story of Nong Mai and Wok has a happy through bittersweet conclusion while the film itself is a heart-rending clarion call to everyone concerned with the future of the planet and its wildlife, to stand up and take action to help these precious imperiled Asian elephants, of which only approximately 45,000 remain alive today.