Winged Migration (2001/2003) (AKA Le
Peuple migrateur, The Travelling Birds)
One of my favorite jokes goes something
like this:
Q: Why do they call them "roach
clips?"
A: Because "pot holder" was already
taken.
I thought of this joke while watching
this movie:
Q: Why did they call it "Winged
Migration?"
A: Because "The Birds" was already
taken.
And that's what you get with "Winged
Migration:" Birds, birds and more birds. You see birds
flying, birds walking, birds wading in water, birds
hunting fish and bugs, birds migrating, birds nesting,
birds laying eggs, bird eggs hatching, birds being
shot at, birds dancing, birds fighting, birds squawking.
You see everything but birds shitting. Which is kind
of a rip-off.
"Winged Migration" is like a wannabee
"Koyaanisqatsi," you know, if it were produced by
the Audubon society. Sometimes the filmmakers here
get the most extraordinary shots of birds in their
natural habitats. The on-the -ground shots of birds
doing what comes naturally are only surpassed by the
amazing aerial shots of birds in flight. These are
often as breathtaking as they are intimate and watching
the film one wonders just how the filmmakers got the
amazing shots that they did. Often gorgeous, the film
can easily captivate the viewer with these sequences.
The film often figuratively, as well as literally,
takes flight.
Distracting from all the cool "PBS"-documentary-with-a-budget
visuals, however, is the rather drab music and the
ridiculous narration. If this film had any balls at
all, the narration and the redundant subtitles would
not be here. For serious bird watchers, the subtitles
seem a pointless point. Those folks can easily recognize
the birds. For the rest of us, we really don't care.
We recognize what we recognize, ducks and cranes and
pelicans and penguins. Those species we don't know
won't be easily remembered anyway. And the narration
is in English but performed by a pompous and monotonous
sounding French person. Why? His accent is so thick
that it is often impossible to understand him anyway.
It seems kind of ridiculous and pretentious as hell.
The music often becomes pretentious
too in its desire to be artsy or, worse yet, majestic.
Some of the songs have lyrics, which is just silly.
And often the music distracts rather than punctuates
what we see. Occasionally, of course, it does work,
but those instances are much more rare than the ostentatious
examples.
As often disturbing and ugly as
it is stunning and beautiful, "Winged Migration" is
nonetheless fascinating viewing. While the birds are
ugly when viewed still and close-up, often times in
danger of being killed or killing their own prey (I
expected Elton John's "Circle of Life" to be played
every so often) they become truly beautiful and graceful
when viewed in flight. Some of these images seem like
the most intimate and close-up pictures of birds in
flight that we have ever seen. It almost makes you
want to be reincarnated as a bird. Never before have
I imagined the beautiful sights and landscapes that
birds are silent (well, at least wordless) witnesses
to. But soon after this thought, we see the birds
on the ground again, squawking, flapping and doing
mating rituals, and we realize what pea-brained idiots
they really are. There's a reason they are called
"bird brains."
Notes:
Nick Cave is credited with doing
some music.
Some birds's eggs were subjected
to the noises of cameras and people so they wouldn't
be afraid of such noises a few years later when they
were filmed as grown birds. Several remote control
planes, helicopters and gliders were used in filming
the birds as well as full sized helicopters, planes,
gliders and hot air balloons. (Although an opening
title card says no "special effects" were used in
filming the birds.
Nominated for Best Documentary Academy
Award for 2002, as well as a Goya and several Cesars
Viewed in Austin in June 2003 at
a press sneak at the Dobie Theater.
