Circles in a Forest (1990)
Circles in a Forest is a 1990 South African drama film directed by Regardt van den Bergh and starring Ian Bannen, Brion James and Joe Stewardson. Saul Barnard befriends an elephant as a child, and later goes back to rescue it as a man. The film is adapted from a novel by Dalene Matthee.
More at Wikipedia.