DVD review entries

March of the Penguins

Writing about web page http://wip.warnerbros.com/marchofthepenguins/

I learnt so much when I watched the March of the Penguins a couple of weeks ago. An extra feature on the DVD highlighted the struggles that filmmaker Luc Jacquet and his colleagues faced as they spent an entire year studying the every move of a colony of emperor penguins in Antarctica. The frost–bite they suffered, the loneliness they experienced, and the arduous task on which they embarked were played down, however, by the film’s emphasis on the treacherous conditions the penguins suffer year after year as they embark on their cycle of walking, mating, breeding, feeding, and surviving.

The film began by documenting the long walk away from the ocean that thousands of penguins undertake every year in order to reach a suitable breeding ground. Once there, a mighty swarking ensues whilst the penguins search for a suitable mate. A mate they will remain faithful to for the whole year ahead. Eventually the mother penguin, if lucky, will lay an egg and in one dexterous move will pass that egg on the father who will insulate it through the harsh winter under a flap of skin made for the purpose whilst the mother returns to the ocean for food. Whilst the mother is still away, the eggs hatch and we are given a glimpse of the adorable little baby penguins. Protected by their fathers they await the arrival of their mothers in order for survival since they rely on her to regurgitate some of the food she gathered in the ocean.

Among many other things I was fascinated by the fact that the penguins rely solely on sound in order to recognise one another and that they can travel hundreds of miles, backwards and forwards to the ocean. I would definitely recommend the film and will, without a doubt, watch it again…and again.

: 20 Aug 2006 15:05 |  Tags: Reviews |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem