Le peuple migrateur (2001)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Directors:

Jacques Perrin
Jacques Cluzaud (co-director)

Writers:

Jean Dorst (writer)
Stéphane Durand (writer)

Release Date:

12 December 2001 (Belgium)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Documentary on the migratory patterns of birds, shot over the course of three years on all seven continents.

Plot Keywords:

Bird | Arctic | Flight | Migration | Ocean

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Philippe Labro	...	Narrator (English version)
Jacques Perrin	...	Narrator (voice)

Also Known As:

Winged Migration (Canada: English title) (festival title) (USA)
Il popolo migratore (Italy)
Nómadas del viento (Spain)
Nomaden der Lüfte (Germany)
Nomaden der Lüfte - Das Geheimnis der Zugvögel (Germany)
The Travelling Birds (International: English title)
Travelling Birds: An Adventure in Flight (Australia) (DVD title)

Runtime:

98 min | Canada:81 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:89 min | Argentina:92 min

Country:

France | Italy | Germany | Spain | Switzerland

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES | Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Iceland:L | Finland:K-3 | South Korea:All | Australia:G | Denmark:A | France:U | Germany:o.Al. | Netherlands:AL | Portugal:M/6 | Singapore:G | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:U | USA:G | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE

Filming Locations:

Abbaye, Mont Saint-Michel, Manche, France

Company:

Bac Films

Trivia:

When the crabs are seemingly devouring the injured bird, it is actually a dead fish that has washed up on the beach.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: The story of bird migration is the story of promise - a promise to return.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

Soundtrack:

To Be By Your Side

The Birds, Revisited.

When documentaries fail to show humans and human events it's almost enough to put the audience to sleep by default (except of course, those who get excited at the mere suggestion of shows like "Nova" or educational programmes sponsored by the Mutual of Omaha).

WINGED MIGRATION doesn't essentially need or looks to inform us what we probably know already: that birds migrate, and in doing so, ensure their own species. But what it does show us is a continuous yet striking montage of birds of different species flying among oceans, mountains, skies, land... we see them through their points of view, while throughout there is the barest suggestion of a plot here and there as inevitably one bird either gets lost in flight, lands in a ship, gets caught in toxic waste (of which it may not escape alive as the others, obeying that instinctual law of moving on, depart), gets disoriented and injured and becomes food for hungry crabs, or even captured by humans to become pets. Beautiful, sometimes moving images that shows us a quiet cycle of life, death, and reproduction, which will stay with the viewer long after the credits have rolled.