‘How do I know these words?’: philosophical cocaine hippo is star of Berlin film festival

Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias’s docudrama Pepe, about Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar’s megaherbivore, gives the ill-fated creature its own voice

Some facts about Pepe are certain. He was heavy even for his thick-set genus, reported to have weighed between four and five tonnes. With a land speed of up to 22 mph and ivory stakes protruding from those pink gums at random angles, he was a forceful reminder that his species is one of the deadliest on the planet, causing an estimated 500 human deaths per year.

Native to sub-Saharan Africa but born in Colombian cocaine king Pablo Escobar’s private menagerie and shot in its vicinity after escaping from captivity in 2009, Pepe the unhappy hippo was also undisputedly and tragically out of place.