“March of the Penguins” (Warner Independent Pictures)
“March of the Penguins” is a beautifully photographed documentary about the life cycle of the emperor penguins that live at the bottom of the globe. The film starts with the penguins’ march to their mating grounds and then follows through with the birth of the eggs and the eventual march of the baby penguins to their habitat. It is a detailed viewing of nature at its most raw, and a testimony to natural instinct and its obedience to the life force.
At the start of the movie it is March and the penguins begin their march to the place of their birth where they will mate and hatch an egg. March is the beginning of the winter season so the mating takes place just before the cruelest months of the year begin. Watching the penguins do their waddle steps across the frozen earth is like seeing a group of clumsy nuns on their way to Mass.
It is amazing to realize penguins are birds, but they do not fly. They either waddle, or slide on their bellies, or swim. They are also covered in feathers that look like hair. Still they hatch eggs and feed their young through their gullets. So I guess they are birds after all.
The mating ritual is one of the more incredible aspects of the penguins’ story. At the place of their birth the penguins seek out a mate to which they will stay monogamous for a year. They mate and produce an egg that is soon transferred to the care of the male while the female penguin returns to the ocean to find food. Later the female returns and takes over the raising of the baby for a while.
All of this is shown by photography that must have been tedious to film and dangerous to collect. Director Luc Jacquet and his crew had to have endured harsh conditions in order to bring this story to the screen.
As good as this movie is, it is just a nature documentary like Disney used to do in droves. If it weren’t for the cuteness of the creatures the movie would not have as much impact as it does.
The unobtrusive musical score by Alex Wurman adds to the enjoyment of the film. Morgan Freeman’s narration is okay but you wish James Earl Jones had been available.
The film is rated G but there are some scenes of violence and of death in the film. This may be upsetting to smaller children.
The film is enjoyable, entertaining, and inspiring. Once again we get a chance to see how difficult living in the wilds can be. After viewing the film you kind of wish the penguins could all just hop a freight to a warmer climate – like that “Madagascar” bunch did.
I scored “March of the Penguins” a cool 7 out of 10.
