Movie Review: March of the Penguins

Penguins Take Flight

Humans love to project themselves onto penguins. The flightless birds waddling through life are hugely entertaining, the highlight of any zoo visit. They've always reminded me of sullen waiters. And who didn't love the perpetually pessimistic Chilly Willy? What's so special about the documentary March of the Penguins, what makes it such a treat, is that it shows us a serious side of penguins that for the most part, no one ever knew existed.

Now Luc Jacquet's March of the Penguins isn't the Schindler's List of nature documentaries. There are many moments in the film that are extremely cute and funny. And there's nothing wrong with extremely cute and funny. Had the film been compiled solely of penguins tap dancing and performing pratfalls, I would be the last person to complain (well second to last, my father was injured in an unfortunate penguin attack). But March of the Penguins gives the audience the complete penguin experience, laughter, tears, and more.

The film opens with Emperor penguins trekking 70 miles across the harsh and barren landscape that is Antarctica in order to partake in an unimaginable ritual. For 7 months, the penguins will go without food and without warmth with one goal in mind. To create life. It's hard to imagine the chain of events that led to this ritual. Surely there were easier ways to reproduce. Anywhere seems better than a frozen wasteland. But by using keen, almost supernatural instincts, these penguins prevail. If you weren't watching a documentary and someone simply told you this tale, you would swear it was fiction. It is that unbelievable.

Watching these penguins endure wind storms and temperatures that would kill most people in the name of love, elevates March of the Penguins to a level not reachable by other nature documentaries. And perhaps that just me, a human, projecting the notion of love on these animals. Maybe it's all instinct and self-preservation. But love is the only word that really makes sense. Mothers leave their eggs in the care of the fathers for months on end in order to secure food (an interesting animal kingdom role reversal). Once the eggs hatch, the situation becomes more dire as the chicks will soon starve without food. The fathers employ a last ditch effort to keep their young alive, having saved a small amount of food in their bodies to feed the chicks for such a situation.

As the story unfolded, I realized most Best Picture Oscar winners aren't this dramatic. There's a collective sigh of relief when the mothers return, though some have died in the trek of food. And some chicks have frozen or starved to death while they were gone. Seeing a mother penguin attempt to steal another chick to replace her loss, makes us again question the relationship between human emotions and animals. Seeing other mother penguins fight her off, removes any remaining doubt. These animals do love. And they also suffer and grieve.

I understand why the film is rated G but that doesn't change the fact that this isn't The Lion King. Killer leopard seals, dive bombing predatory birds, and countless dead penguins, some of these images will certainly upset younger children. But this is a film that can be enjoyed by almost everyone. Breathtaking cinematography, an excellent score, along with a commanding narration by the ubiquitous Morgan Freeman, all add to an incredible experience.

The film falls short of perfection. There are some questionable editing decisions, like following up scenes of chicks playing with scenes of them dying. The juxtapose is too much for an already emotionally draining experience. The scenes filmed underwater don't quite fit in with the rest of the documentary. And the Aurora Borealis light show was too grainy to enjoy. But those are all minor issues. Like Winged Migration and Microcosmos, March of the Penguins is destined to become the quintessential nature documentary.