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crreig [ 6.5 ]
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This Academy Award nominated documentary will dazzle you. The director and screenwriter, Jacques Perrin, teamed together with a number of other directors to produce this beautiful film about the migration of some species of birds. The footage -- Perrin uses incredibly specialized cameras and techniques to get these images -- is stunning...at moments, overwhelming.
Unfortunately, the kudos stops there. The writing is lame and reinforces standard goo-goo perspectives. While Perrin shows hunters killing ducks and geese in the US, he neglects to show much violence between birds or the more devestating effects of suburban sprawl and global warming, for example. He does not mention that hunting licenses account for almost 3/4 of our country's conservation revenue, while birders and environmental activists spend relatively little in comparison.
This is only one of several missed opportunities. I am frustrated by such gaps. Perrin shows us Nature, in all her glorious splendor, but opts not to show us her cruel indifference. Nature is not all pastoral beauty and a truly complete film would show us the blood and guts as well. Life, after all, is about birth, death and the journey in between. What better metaphor for all creatures than the typically short, hard life of migratory bird species? It's a shame Perrin and his team give us only a piece of the story.
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Wizard [ 4.0 ]
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This film is visually stunning and amazing. It shows an enormous craftmanship.
However, this grows tiresome very quickly. Itwatched it in three sitting, which might be a more proper format. After the first half an hour the film doesn't offer any new insights that would make it worthwhile.
Some scenes of the film were definitely made with the help of SFX department. In the end you can't always tell what's real and what might be fake. This betrayal is not excuseable.
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bradluen [ 4.5 ]
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(Because Winged Migration is too complex a title for NZ audiences, it's been given the brick-thick name Travelling Birds here.) The airborne shots are undeniable. You get a sense not only of flying, but of different types of flight – I wish they had found more than one eagle; its effortless dominance of the air is the highlight of the movie. The rest is just anthropomorphism like they do on the Discovery Channel, enlivened by occasional worked scenes (Combine harvester! Oh no!) This was enough for most of the large audience; I just think a movie which disclaims that it used no special effects in filming the birds, and lists a special effects crew of forty, is being a little disingenuous.
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jeff_v [ 4.5 ]
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People forked over nine bucks to see this? It really is just an hour and a half of a bunch of birds flying around. Less insight than your average National Geographic (aside from the stray, vaguely political juxtaposition of seeing birds shot down by hunters in the U.S., followed by a shot of geese in front of the World Trade Center towers). Sure, some of the footage is amazing, but that's all it is... just a bunch of footage.
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| Weighted Rating | : 6.0 |
| No. Ratings | : 6 | |
| No. Reviews | : 4 | |
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