(La Marche de L'empereur)(2004)
reviewed by Brian "The Naked Gun" Felts
& Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
The movie is about how the Emperor Penguins take a yearly trek in the early fall and head to the
center of the continent where they mate and produce eggs. Once the female lays the egg, she hands
the egg to the male and she makes the long trek back to the beach to get food while the males stay
and endure the long winters looking out for the eggs until they hatch. The males go for up to 120
days without eating until the females make it back and then they go and head to the ocean. This
process continues until the end of winter and then the penguins go their separate ways until next
fall when they have to do the process over again.
This is a wonderful movie with Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) doing the voice over for the
English version. The writing and direction are very good in that the commentary is never too much
and provides enough info to make it entertaining and also achieving a goal of being one step above
a discovery channel episode. This movie is quite good.
I am amazed at what the film crew went through to shoot this movie. Watching the penguins go
through the harsh winds and knowing that the film crew was out in it filming it is just incredible.
How did they do the underwater shoots? How did the camera not freeze in freezing water? Just
incredible.
This movie will easily get an Academy Award® nomination and should win as long as Hollywood
does not go political. It deserves it and I you should take the time to see the movie considering
what garbage is coming out right now.
Brian - the Naked Gun This is a fine, outstandingly made nature documentary which deserves every award thrown its way. "March of the Penguins" is a strong step above a National Geographic produced doc, or up a step up from something you'd see
on Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel. I am convinced Morgan Freeman (Kiss the Girls) should be hired to voice any documentary or any kind of voice over material,
like he did for the opening and closing of "War of the Worlds" this year (2005). He gives the writing of the documentary
a class all its own; strong presence and caring demeanor. Its everything the picture required for its North American release. I also really enjoyed the music composed for the film by Alex Wurman (Hollywood Homicide, A Lot Like Love).
It accompanied the dramatics of the event, the love
between the animals through the story and the tragedy some of the penguins had to endure. Wurman's score only appears in
the picture's North American released print One thing I didn't like about the picture was the lengthy and redundant slow motion shots of the penguins' plumage. I liked those
portions of the cinematography when they were first edited in, but for the most part, the dragged the film down later. It was almost
as if the filmmakers ran out of establishing shots to fill in for transitions; OR the distribution deal for the film called for a
certain amount of playing time, and to fill it out, the filmmakers used shots like the plumage shots to make the contract. I just
thought they stuck out after a while. I am very excited to see the DVD release of this picture. Over the end credits of the film, the audience is given snippets of
behind-the-scenes footage of French filmmaker Luc Jacquet, enduring the Antarctic wasteland, much like their subjects.
My point being, I'm sure the DVD will have some kick-a** behind-the-scenes footage of the Making of "March of the Penguins."
I am extremely amazed to find out this was Jacquet's first feature length project. Overall, this is probably going to end up being the best documentary to land in America this year, or even for a while. I just hope
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences remembers it come Oscar® season. If you like documentaries, the Discovery Channel, Penguins or just stories of love in times of adversity, than "March of
the Penguins" is a must see for you; however, I don't think anything will be lost translating to the small screen. I am making it
a point to get this DVD into my collection. Benn - Where's the Humanity?
This is a great movie about a James Bond look a like convention. Ok, now that I got the tuxedo
joke out of the way, this is actually a great documentary about the reproductive process of the
Emperor Penguins that live in the Antarctic. It is a fun, educational movie that has humor and
sadness.