This film is visually stunning, tightly plotted, and emotionally moving. I laughed uncontrollably and cried uncontrollably as the action held mt attention tight all 90 minutes. I identified with and sympathized with the films protagonists. Images and scenes from the movie have stayed with me in the week since I saw it - dipping in and out of my mind repeatedly. This film provides everything you could possibly want from a trip to the cinema.
Of course, I am describing a documentary about penguins. The important action linking the above paragraph to a documentary is the film's opening. The first shots show the penguins walking along the horizon. Slightly out of focus, they resemble people - are described as nomads enacting an ancient ritual. In these opening shots, a bond is forged between the audience and the penguins. The penguins - who throughout are portrayed as a sort of single organism in themselves (though there is constant focus on the individuals involved and their personal dramas set against the backdrop of the group as a whole) - are established as human.
Soon after this humanizing opening, the film establishes (through visuals, not scientific explanation) that these impressive nomads are emotional beings who, as individuals, form a society. These individual penguins show personality and desire separate from, yet subservient to, those of the group as a whole. Their dilemma - the plot of the movie - is laid out simply - they must reproduce. Their motivations are to survive as a group, to reproduce, to love, and to survive as individuals.
The visual simplicity of black and white objects moving against endless expanses of ice, sky, and later water matches the simplicity of the story.
These simplicities allow for brilliance of the visual landscape and the basic, endearing, and relevant story to come forward. There are many obstacles for the penguins. Gut-wrenching pain, strife, sacrifice and loss are juxtaposed with inspiring moments of humor, redemption, love, beauty, and accomplishment.
The universals of the story allow the viewer to lose himself inside the shot-by-shot movement of the story; to switch from one penguin to another, long-shots to close-ups, desperation to hope; to bask in the beauty of the film and the landscapes and the sheer amazement that this happens on the same Earth as the movie theater, and also to care about how an individual experiences this extremely unlikely adventure of life.
This is less a nature documentary than a feature film. Watch it as such. The science is there for the viewer to see and accept. Scientific explanation is not the focus of the narration; it is the backdrop for the stunning look that carries a deep and rewarding story.
This all adds up not just a feature film, but to the best feature film of the summer.
Of course, I am describing a documentary about penguins. The important action linking the above paragraph to a documentary is the film's opening. The first shots show the penguins walking along the horizon. Slightly out of focus, they resemble people - are described as nomads enacting an ancient ritual. In these opening shots, a bond is forged between the audience and the penguins. The penguins - who throughout are portrayed as a sort of single organism in themselves (though there is constant focus on the individuals involved and their personal dramas set against the backdrop of the group as a whole) - are established as human.
Soon after this humanizing opening, the film establishes (through visuals, not scientific explanation) that these impressive nomads are emotional beings who, as individuals, form a society. These individual penguins show personality and desire separate from, yet subservient to, those of the group as a whole. Their dilemma - the plot of the movie - is laid out simply - they must reproduce. Their motivations are to survive as a group, to reproduce, to love, and to survive as individuals.
The visual simplicity of black and white objects moving against endless expanses of ice, sky, and later water matches the simplicity of the story.
These simplicities allow for brilliance of the visual landscape and the basic, endearing, and relevant story to come forward. There are many obstacles for the penguins. Gut-wrenching pain, strife, sacrifice and loss are juxtaposed with inspiring moments of humor, redemption, love, beauty, and accomplishment.
The universals of the story allow the viewer to lose himself inside the shot-by-shot movement of the story; to switch from one penguin to another, long-shots to close-ups, desperation to hope; to bask in the beauty of the film and the landscapes and the sheer amazement that this happens on the same Earth as the movie theater, and also to care about how an individual experiences this extremely unlikely adventure of life.
This is less a nature documentary than a feature film. Watch it as such. The science is there for the viewer to see and accept. Scientific explanation is not the focus of the narration; it is the backdrop for the stunning look that carries a deep and rewarding story.
This all adds up not just a feature film, but to the best feature film of the summer.
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