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March of the Penguins (2005)

Director: Luc Jacquet

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From Time Out London

Luc Jacquet’s breathtaking documentary about Antarctica’s emperor penguins surfaces in the UK with the dubious honour of having ‘done a “Passion” ’ – that is, it’s got middle America, traditionally unimpressed by Hollywood’s diet of bad language and sex, off its collective ass and into cinemas. US right-wing critics have praised its purportedly pro-family-values depiction of the penguins’ arduous breeding process and its concomitant case for creationism, but sitting down to watch the film you realise that to think such things you’d have to be, well, a bit stupid. Ah.

In fact, it’s the very alienness of the penguins’ actions that makes the film so fascinating. Imagine if we had to reproduce annually by leaving our homes to walk for miles to a big field, where we hooked up with a new partner and had very public sex before the women wandered off for many weeks in search of grub, leaving the men starving and holding the baby in subzero temperatures. We’d be on the verge of extinction.

It’s astonishing stuff, deftly told. Wildlife documentaries always face the tricky balancing act of having to suggest the full messiness of the natural world while creating something coherent to audiences. ‘March’ arguably leans too far in the latter direction, making it slightly plodding, and while it doesn’t ignore death, you can’t help feeling, as you hate yourself for guffawing at yet another penguin acting cutely human-like, that you’re being shielded from the worst – indeed, some years 80 per cent of penguin chicks die. It’s all compounded by Morgan Freeman’s slick voice-over, but the dedication of those penguins – and the cameramen, who spent 13 uninterrupted months in Antarctica for the shoot – assure your wonderment.

Author: NF 2005-12-06 11:31:40

Time Out London Issue 1842: December 7-14 2005