Review
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS
Narrated by Morgan Freeman
Directed by Luc Jacquet
Opens Friday, July 15
Globe Cinema
Despite an unfortunate tendency to personify its subjects, March of the Penguins, a documentary about the breeding habits of Emperor penguins, explores the extremes to which some species will go to ensure their survival.
Maybe it’s impossible not to compare, but we may learn more about our own behaviour by looking at the differences between humans and these aquatic birds than by looking at the similarities. For example, the collective will for survival in an Antarctic avian species is quite dissimilar from the individualistic nature of most contemporary human societies. Neither the penguins’ long march to their breeding ground nor their subsequent endurance through a long winter mating season in one of the harshest environments on earth would be possible without the co-operation of each and every bird. Even though the birds form couples similar to monogamous human pairings, they don’t stay together longer than a single mating season, meaning that the entire flock must band together to withstand the cold temperatures and later, in the spring, threats from hungry predators.
Still, the filmmakers behind March of the Penguins must be forgiven for turning a survival story into a romance of sorts, although the English version, which includes tasteful voiceover narration by Morgan Freeman, is much less guilty of that than the original French, which anthropomorphizes the birds by giving them human "voices." No matter how stunning the cinematography, each approach allows the film to find a wider audience in North America and Europe, respectively. But it’s lamentable that the images – an achievement in their own right – are not allowed to speak for themselves.
Nevertheless, March of the Penguins will have all sorts of people flapping their wings in excitement – cinephiles will admire its esthetic pleasures, hopeless romantics will respond to its silly love story, parents will doubtless recognize themselves in the selflessness of the penguins’ trials and tribulations, and children, if those at the screening I attended are representative of others, will laugh their asses off at the penguins’ strange habits and appearance.
And, if nothing else, Antarctica is a great place to cool off on a hot summer’s day. |
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