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WINGED MIGRATION (2003) (***1/2)

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This is a film for anyone who has ever listened to a tape of loons or any other nature sounds. Even if you haven't, it's still for you too. The innovation that sets this film apart from other nature docs is its revolutionary cinematography. With super light cameras and planes, we are able to fly alongside birds like I’ve never seen before.

The film chronicles the migration of an array of various types of birds from all over the world. It creates a real awe for the journeys the birds take just to survive. The film is a perfect mix of straight nature shots, subtitled information and narration. The film even used some wonderful editing to establish emotional mini-stories around issues that birds have to face along their travels like hunters, predators and just getting stuck in the mud.

Throughout the course of the film, the filmmakers have captured some really delightful moments that are sometimes funny and sometimes sad. I mean the birds have it tough on their own and we had to come along and make things that much more difficult for them. Having so effectively established how difficult nature makes their migration, it is heart wrenching when we see the birds helplessly face gun-totting humans or industrial waste or any other man made obstacle. The film will certainly make you pick up trash along the road or give up hunting.

Some have complained that the film is too manufactured to be a documentary. But those people don't realize that all documentaries are manufactured to some degree. This isn't the news; it's cinema. The mini-stories are obviously constructed to create an emotional connection with the audience. It also helps to keep us engaged. What's wrong with that? You can accuse the film of sometimes being too cute, but it never manufactures anything that real birds don't encounter on a daily basis anyway. Some of the birds in the film were actually breed to be accustomed to the cameras and planes, so that the filmmakers could fly close to them without them minding. Hours of footage were cut down to create the film we have here, cumulating in a lean observation of the wonder of birds in migration.

Combining the pictures, emotion and theme, this is the best nature documentary I’ve ever seen. The narration doesn't drone on and the subtitles don't intrude. Directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud just let their amazing visuals speak louder than words. Sit down at the biggest TV or screen you can find and enjoy the wonders of nature like you’ve never seen them before.

Rick DeMott's picture

Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks