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Reviews
La marche de l'empereur (2005)
An exceptional piece of work. Well worth seeing, especially if you are interested in wildlife.
This is a fascinating and visually stunning documentary, made by the flimaker luc Jacquet. Spending more than a year chronicling the course of an emperor-penguin colony in Antarctica, in temperatures exceeding -50. It's narrated by the mellifluent Morgan Freeman, doing an excellent job of explaining what you are seeing on screen.The documentary chronicles the travails of emperor penguins in the Antarctic through a year's cycle of mating and reproduction. The courtship begins with a walk of many hundreds of miles to their breeding grounds.After which they find a mate and produce an egg, then the females leave to return to the sea and feed while the males patiently nurture and warm the egg for 2 months, and then nurture the hatchling in extreme winds and cold temperatures. They wait in hope, for the return of the mother penguin. I say hope because of the risk factors involving dangerous predators and the harshest conditions on earth in search of their food source/s. The roles of the penguins switch and the story continues....I was captivated. The filmmakers certainly deserved their Documentary Oscar award for the travails they went through to capture the penguins' odyssey, throughout the depths of Antarctic winter.It's a fascinating film for all ages, and although the film is realistic about the fates of some of the chicks and birds who don't survive the winter, it doesn't dwell on it and the few deaths shown are not overly gory or traumatic.
Le peuple migrateur (2001)
Have you ever looked up in the sky to imagine what it would be like to fly like a bird? If that's a yes, then read on, because "Winged Migration"is the film for you.
In 2001 Jacques Perrin "Winged Migration" became an award-winning documentary. It came as no surprise. For me it was a 'wide-eyed' 99 minutes of unique cinematography of migrating bird species from around the world. With minimal narrative and absolutely no special effects, the film focuses in on birds and nature in all its power and glory. Filmed over three years,the exquisite cinematography of migrating birds coupled with spectacular winged formations filmed from the Artic Circle,the flight over vast oceans, to the industrial areas of Eastern Europe. Here we see different environmental factors concerning industrial pollution. We also see the dangers faced by hunters whose gunfire brings sudden death as well as a bird with a broken wing who is attacked and devoured by crabs. These few unpleasant parts set to remind us of the human condition along with unseen dangers faced by birds on their quest to survive.
Highly recommended.
The Life of Birds (1998)
A Masterpiece among Documentaries
Sir David Attenborough always makes natural history so fascinating, the Life of Birds is no exception.With excellent narration and the incredible footage, he takes viewers all over the globe observing the life-styles and behavior of birds. With a dash of humor here, a tiny amount of suspense there,Sir David Attenborough draws us in with his genuine fascination of each bird species.
Also, the order in which they are presented is just incredible. The series starts from the birds aerial accomplishment of flight and ends with their struggle to survive in the modern world. Every birder, conservationist and environmentalist should watch this series.