Winged Migration
If you just ask someone what Winged Migration is about, they are forced to say, “well, it’s about migrating birds, and they follow a bunch of different flocks all over the world, and boy are their arms tired.” Without further elaboration, this sounds like a nice film for birders and zoologists only. Yes, the images you are watching are those of soaring geese, pelicans, penguins, cranes, and several other species, but it’s how they shot it that is why you should see the movie. Don’t worry, this isn’t another Russian Ark where the best thing about the movie was how it was made, rather than the finished product. These filmmakers worked with the colonies for long periods of time, getting them used to the look and sound of the cameras, remote control planes and gliders, so that the camera is just another bird in the formation as they struggle for survival across the seven continents.
You’re not getting a jittery picture of a pelican from a telephoto lens. You are watching his muscles ripple beneath the feathers speckled with dew and cloud. The tips of his feathers brush the lens. Below you at a dizzying height slide by the nations of Europe like a perfect topographical map. No special effects were employed in the making of this film. It is good that they press that issue at the beginning of the movie, else you would never believe it. The ratio of “I can’t believe I am actually seeing this” moments is higher than in any crazy stunt/action film. The access these filmmakers have to their subjects, the behavior, the sounds, the quiet observation, is unbelievable. More amazing still is following the same birds to the same spot a year later, and feeling the differences there. Human landmarks are as much a part of their navigation as the sun and magnetic poles, and we can only hope in this, we do not make it harder for them as well as with our perils.
We jump from bevy to muster, from skein to company to gaggle, and the only real narration is advising of the species and the distance that these birds fly twice a year in search of food, nesting, and safety. The hazards they must overcome, the odds of surviving, never seemed so slim, even without introducing the obvious slant of “and humans sure don’t make it any easier.” When you’re flying in a formation of geese, listening to the rustle of their wings, recognizing the importance of this flight, of every flight, and glimpsing the determination in their eyes, it’s transporting. The tragedies visited upon some among our subjects, and the herd’s reactions, were moving every time. My mouth dried out from hanging open.
Thierry Machado, who also photographed the exceptional insect documentary Microcosmos, is the cinematographer for this film. Unlike a dramatic film or even a human-based documentary, the filmmaker can do little or nothing to affect his shot when slipping silently into a siege of herons or a colony of penguins. The equipment serves him well. Every shot is beautiful, for its content as well as its composition. It was amazing too to be so immersed in the birds’ world that when we come again to any human construction, be it palace or combine, it seems so alien and unnatural. How anyone can drive an SUV after seeing this is beyond me.
MPAA Rating G (with one shocking death)
Release date 4/18/03 NY
Time in minutes 87
Director Jacques Perrin
Studio Sony Pictures Classics
