On The March

One of my favorite summer rituals: I always spend an afternoon with my niece, before she heads back to college. Our time together consists of a midday movie and a late lunch. This year, I had suggested we see the thriller Red Eye as the movie and that was the plan--until we found out that we would have to drive 35 minutes out of our way to see it. Doing so would have conflicted with her late day commitments, she then suggested the documentary March Of The Penguins, I was not not all that jazzed, quite frankly...But I decided to forge ahead anyway. And I'm glad I did. Little did I know that a doc about the mating habits of Penguins would be so enjoyable.

Emperor penguins overcome overwhelming odds in order to return to their breeding grounds for mating season. This import from France, called LaMarche de l'empereur, follows one year in the life of a flock concentrating on one couple in particular--whom I personally nicknamed Ralph and Alice-as they travel across the Antarctic on an annual journey that invokes almost every life cycle experience: from birth to death, from dating to mating, from comedy to tragedy, and from love to fighting for survival.

The American producers did a great service to the audience by enlisting actor Morgan Freeman to narrate writer Jordan Roberts English translation. Freeman's storytelling technique keeps you engaged from almost the first moment you hear his recognizable inflection and cadence. The photography by Laurent Chalet and Jérôme Maison is just stunning. The beauty of the arctic shines, even in its harshness. Getting up close with these stellar creatures is a real treat. Director Luc Jacquet and his team are to be applauded for the way they made this film buck convention--that animal documentaries don't have a place for a mass audiences.

March of the Penguins is a funny and touching look at these classy critters. I only wish that all of those animal docs I was "forced" to watch in my High School Life Science classes were this good. March Of The Penguins is scheduled for release on DVD November 29th 2005.