March of the Penguins
Starting to catch up a little now... I hope to be all caught up by the time I move this weekend, so a lot of stuff will hopefully be going up in the next couple of days.
March of the Penguins
Loews Harvard Square
* * * 1/2
I'm not entirely sure what to make of this big documentary push. For one, I think it's great that people have an interest in seeing non-fiction pieces and actually learning. I just wish there was some assurance that the majority of docs ended up being more similar to this one, as opposed to Michael Moore-style firestarting one-sided propoganda (and I liked Fahrenheit 9/11). Penguins hits all the right notes, simply by showing an amazing natural occurence. Nowhere does it try to explain in "human terms" why this happens; it just lets the penguins act for themselves.
The natural occurence is the mating ritual of the emporer penguin, a long and dangerous ordeal that takes the better part of the year. Each year the penguins walk, waddle and slide 70 miles over the Antarctic tundra to the same spot they've always been gathering, choose a mate, and begin to settle in for the long season. Once the egg is laid, the mother passes it off to the father, and begins a series of hand-offs as the parents take turns going to the shore to feed and get food for the chick, each stretch made more dangerous by weather, predators and hunger.
The film is not forgiving in its reality. Despite the G rating, the film shows the natural order of things and the food chain in all its necessity and brutality, though there was a little suspect editing to make seals look a bit more threatening than really required. No one wants to see penguins getting hurt... they're penguins!
The most amazing thing about this film is the proximity. Director Luc Jacquet and his crew got so incredibly close to these animals, it might as well be a zoo. And for the most part, it looked like the flock really didn't care. Usually with documentarians getting this close to their subjects, there is some bit of curiosity on the animal's part, but not here. The cameras may as well not be there at all. As such, they were able to get some gorgeous shot of these animals and the world in which they live, often with implied risk to the crew's health. You have to assume that the same wind and snow that was battering the flock was also hitting the camera crews and equipment. Also of note is the blatant lack of the filmmakers in the shoot. The first time you see a human being in the film is during the credits. They really took care to allow the penguins to tell the whole story
... except, of course, for the narration. Morgan Freeman should do more voiceover projects. He has a fantastic voice for something like this, and he's great here. The script was pretty minimal, with a comment here or there. Well done all around.
It's unusual for good G-rated fare to come around that isn't painfully ridiculous. March of the Penguins may only appeal to those people with a pre-existing affinity for the birds, but then again... who doesn't have one? It's good time spent, enjoyable to watch, and egads! You may just learn something in the process.
March of the Penguins
Loews Harvard Square
* * * 1/2
I'm not entirely sure what to make of this big documentary push. For one, I think it's great that people have an interest in seeing non-fiction pieces and actually learning. I just wish there was some assurance that the majority of docs ended up being more similar to this one, as opposed to Michael Moore-style firestarting one-sided propoganda (and I liked Fahrenheit 9/11). Penguins hits all the right notes, simply by showing an amazing natural occurence. Nowhere does it try to explain in "human terms" why this happens; it just lets the penguins act for themselves.
The natural occurence is the mating ritual of the emporer penguin, a long and dangerous ordeal that takes the better part of the year. Each year the penguins walk, waddle and slide 70 miles over the Antarctic tundra to the same spot they've always been gathering, choose a mate, and begin to settle in for the long season. Once the egg is laid, the mother passes it off to the father, and begins a series of hand-offs as the parents take turns going to the shore to feed and get food for the chick, each stretch made more dangerous by weather, predators and hunger.
The film is not forgiving in its reality. Despite the G rating, the film shows the natural order of things and the food chain in all its necessity and brutality, though there was a little suspect editing to make seals look a bit more threatening than really required. No one wants to see penguins getting hurt... they're penguins!
The most amazing thing about this film is the proximity. Director Luc Jacquet and his crew got so incredibly close to these animals, it might as well be a zoo. And for the most part, it looked like the flock really didn't care. Usually with documentarians getting this close to their subjects, there is some bit of curiosity on the animal's part, but not here. The cameras may as well not be there at all. As such, they were able to get some gorgeous shot of these animals and the world in which they live, often with implied risk to the crew's health. You have to assume that the same wind and snow that was battering the flock was also hitting the camera crews and equipment. Also of note is the blatant lack of the filmmakers in the shoot. The first time you see a human being in the film is during the credits. They really took care to allow the penguins to tell the whole story
... except, of course, for the narration. Morgan Freeman should do more voiceover projects. He has a fantastic voice for something like this, and he's great here. The script was pretty minimal, with a comment here or there. Well done all around.
It's unusual for good G-rated fare to come around that isn't painfully ridiculous. March of the Penguins may only appeal to those people with a pre-existing affinity for the birds, but then again... who doesn't have one? It's good time spent, enjoyable to watch, and egads! You may just learn something in the process.
posted by Matt S. at
10:59 AM
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