Winged Migration - a film by Jacques Perrin

[Guest guest]

This movie review is a forward, but I did see it myself recently,

and I heartily second the recommendation. Seeing it is a unique

opportunity to be one with the birds.

Gloria

A tremendous heart-opener, simply awe-inspiring depiction of innate

intelligence and tremendous variety of genetic combinations and

behaviors among birds and other species. Cinematography is absolutely

heavenly. This film places you right THERE. Freyja

http://www.sonyclassics.com/wingedmigration/home.html (please copy

and paste url) 'Winged Migration' a stunning global journey By Matt

Soergel Winged Migration is as close as we'll ever get to flying with

the birds. This French documentary of mind-blowing beauty puts you

right there with migratory birds, so close there on the big screen

that you can see the close-up ruffling of individual feathers in

flight, hear the actual beating of their wings.And down below us,

zooming by, is the natural and man-made of the Earth: the desert, the

tundra, the Arctic, the sea pounding against the coast of Antarctica,

the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, the skyline of New York

(with the World Trade Center towers still standing). That vicarious

thrill is what separates Winged Migration from the various nature

shows you can catch on cable. It's almost impossible to overstate how

breathtaking much of it is: Many movies hope to build to a couple of

mind-boggling visual moments that make your jaw drop. This film is

packed with them, so many that it can just sprinkle them almost

willy-nilly throughout. And then, as if that's not enough, the

filmmakers just casually slip in, oh, say, a huge avalanche or an

iceberg breaking apart -- just because they can. Winged Migration

Credits: Directed by Jacques Perrin.Running time: 1 hour, 31

minutes.Family guide: G. Winged Migration is a four-year project for

French filmmaker Jacques Perrin and his huge crew, which included

pilots in gliders and hot-air balloons who helped him get those

rapturous fly-with-the-bird shots.That commitment of time and

resources led to all those astounding moments: Watch for a captured

tropical bird trying to escape from a cage on the Amazon. Watch how

crabs on the African shoreline attack a doomed, broken-winged bird.

Watch how the sky turns black with birds.That's just a start --

almost any scene, any image, could be singled out. A couple of

quibbles: The music might be too New Agey for some (the visuals alone

are inspiring enough). And the skimpy narration, by Perrin himself,

feels a bit trite; it can't match the power of the visuals. Truth be

told, though, what could?