CHINA, NATIONAL, ARTS, Movie Review: March of the Penguins: Love Finds Its Way in the Frozen World
By Yu Zhijuan
There is no lethal fighting and shooting, no evil persons conspiring to govern the whole universe, no young lady attempting to kill her husband. This summer, the French director Luc Jacquet's documentary La Marche de L'empereur (English Title: March of the Penguins) brought to us a cinematic experience that is completely different from other current movies. It recorded the authentic life of emperor penguins--the process of their growth, mating and reproduction. The shot of the father penguin challenging the extreme cold and starvation to guard the egg touches even the heart of stone. Just like the narrator of this documentary said, "In the harshest place on Earth love finds a way."
In China, the image of a cute boy penguin with a red scarf around his neck (as the symbol of a popular chatting tool TengxunQQ on the Internet) has been impressed on youths' mind; however, few of them really know penguins and their customary way of life. Luc Jacquet gives audiences a vivid biological lesson on the Emperor Penguin--the largest of its kind. Penguins are birds but cannot fly. They can dive in the sea and live on the ice. They can walk upon their feet and slide with their bellies. In winter, other birds fly to the south; in contrast, penguins leave the warm seawater for the bleak Antarctic continent to commence their long march.
The documentary begins with a bird's-eye view of the snow-covered Antarctic region. While listening to Emilie Simon's song "Only white, I think it is cold outside," audiences might think of wearing more clothes. The first shot of the film is deliberately blurred, so a line of penguins waddling may be mistakenly regarded as some pilgrims walking across the desert. Suddenly, a penguin pops out of the ocean onto the ice sheet and everything becomes visually clear. The penguin spreads its wings and shows its body. Every movement of its plump body reminds audiences of Charles Chaplin's funny gestures.
In succession, more and more penguins assemble from far and near. They all head towards a fixed place to find a mate and have babies. When thousands of them collect there, the occasion seems to be uncontrollable and they all make strange sounds like "everybody, let's party!" Through courtship dancing and singing, male and female penguins try to gain their lover's heart. In particular, a pair of lovers become the leading actor and actress of the film. They tenderly kiss each other and are deeply immersed in the happiness of love. Once they become a couple, they begin to take the responsibility of raising up their seed.
Several days later, the frozen world witnesses the naissance of new lives. The mother penguin has exhausted all her energy. She has to return to the sea as soon as possible to store food for her baby. Thus she passes with great care the unhatched egg to her spouse, and the father starts to guard it.
Within about 2 months, the father has nothing to eat and must constantly fight against the blizzard. He puts the egg above his feet and warms it with his belly. But still, facing the icy storm, he needs the help of his group. When snowflakes are rolling with the gale, penguins tightly keep close to each other with their backs exposed to the wind. After an interval, penguins inside the circle voluntarily replace the outside ones.
While the father is tested by extreme hunger and artic winds, the mother is affronted with the attack of seals in the ocean. Against the odds, both of the protagonists survive. What is more exciting is that their chick begins to reveal his head from out of the shell!
The mother penguin finally finishes her first journey and comes back to find the waiting father and son. The penguin family gets a brief reunion. Now it is the father's turn to return to the ocean to have food, since these days' lack of food have made him lose half of his weight. Before departing, the father doesn't forget to ask his kid to memorize his voice for identification in the future.
With mother penguin's nurturing, the infant grows up day by day. He learns to walk, endure the storm and be independent. Mother's pouch seems too small for him to stay now. His plume gradually turns from gray to black and white and someday he will be as strong as his father.
March of the Penguins was released in American theaters in June 2005. Within a single day the penguins earned more at the box-office than War of the Worlds. The penguins easily defeated Tom Cruise! It sounds impossible. But the master of the documentary Luc Jacquet made it true.
Most Chinese audiences, even unfamiliar with this French filmmaker's name, must be acquainted with his two other works Microcosmos and Winged Migration. Due to Luc Jacquet's passion towards biology and filmmaking, people have a chance to access nature and discover a beautiful and mysterious world. Through his camera, even the mosquito becomes a luxurious star! After 12 years' preparation and 13 months' shooting at the South Pole, Luc Jacquet and his crew conquered many difficulties and finally managed to present the panorama of the penguin kingdom to audiences around the world.
The film market this summer was flooded with war movies represented by Star Wars III followed by War of the Worlds. When people turn on their TV sets, most of the programs they see are about guns and shooting for the sake of observing WW II. The March of the Penguins is just like a cold dish after enough chafing dishes. It brings to audiences the sense of coolness, quietness and peacefulness, and it takes people back to the world of love and reason.
In spite of some inciting asides such as "La vie, si belle" and "de plus en plus fort, de plus en plus fort"(respectively used to describe the egg and storm), the film could still be viewed as an unadorned morality tale. Compared with human cruelty and selfishness, these clumsy creatures incarnate love, sacrifice and responsibility. Although almost starving to death, the father penguin spit from out his stomach the remains of food to feed the chick; when the storm is coming, all penguins huddle together to get warm; the sad penguin mother wailing for her abortive child. All these make people contemplate and self-examine.
People nowadays work under great pressure to support families and unconsciously quicken the tempo of life. "I cannot wait"--the phrase is heard daily. Once audiences enter the cinema and watch these penguins, they have to slow down their pace and learn to wait. They need to wait patiently to see the birth of the chick, the termination of the storm and the boy penguins becoming adults.
The documentary Microcosmos directed by Luc Jacquet is also a classical example. In the colorful world of insects, an hour is passed like a day and a day is lived through like a year! People who have read the book Souvenir Entomologiques by Jean Henri Fabre must have experienced the long wait for the ants transporting food to their nest and a pupa turning to become a butterfly. In Luc Jacquet's films, audiences open their curious eyes to wait for the slightest changes of the world and the miracles to happen.
Hardly anyone could refuse these fragile creatures. Even hunters viewing the abortive chick would show their sympathy. Love of animals, human beings and the whole universe is the eternal theme. It is reported that in Shanghai, some mothers utilized The Penguins as material for prenatal instruction. Hopefully love can find its way in the following generation and every corner of the world.
There is no lethal fighting and shooting, no evil persons conspiring to govern the whole universe, no young lady attempting to kill her husband. This summer, the French director Luc Jacquet's documentary La Marche de L'empereur (English Title: March of the Penguins) brought to us a cinematic experience that is completely different from other current movies. It recorded the authentic life of emperor penguins--the process of their growth, mating and reproduction. The shot of the father penguin challenging the extreme cold and starvation to guard the egg touches even the heart of stone. Just like the narrator of this documentary said, "In the harshest place on Earth love finds a way."
In China, the image of a cute boy penguin with a red scarf around his neck (as the symbol of a popular chatting tool TengxunQQ on the Internet) has been impressed on youths' mind; however, few of them really know penguins and their customary way of life. Luc Jacquet gives audiences a vivid biological lesson on the Emperor Penguin--the largest of its kind. Penguins are birds but cannot fly. They can dive in the sea and live on the ice. They can walk upon their feet and slide with their bellies. In winter, other birds fly to the south; in contrast, penguins leave the warm seawater for the bleak Antarctic continent to commence their long march.
The documentary begins with a bird's-eye view of the snow-covered Antarctic region. While listening to Emilie Simon's song "Only white, I think it is cold outside," audiences might think of wearing more clothes. The first shot of the film is deliberately blurred, so a line of penguins waddling may be mistakenly regarded as some pilgrims walking across the desert. Suddenly, a penguin pops out of the ocean onto the ice sheet and everything becomes visually clear. The penguin spreads its wings and shows its body. Every movement of its plump body reminds audiences of Charles Chaplin's funny gestures.
In succession, more and more penguins assemble from far and near. They all head towards a fixed place to find a mate and have babies. When thousands of them collect there, the occasion seems to be uncontrollable and they all make strange sounds like "everybody, let's party!" Through courtship dancing and singing, male and female penguins try to gain their lover's heart. In particular, a pair of lovers become the leading actor and actress of the film. They tenderly kiss each other and are deeply immersed in the happiness of love. Once they become a couple, they begin to take the responsibility of raising up their seed.
Several days later, the frozen world witnesses the naissance of new lives. The mother penguin has exhausted all her energy. She has to return to the sea as soon as possible to store food for her baby. Thus she passes with great care the unhatched egg to her spouse, and the father starts to guard it.
Within about 2 months, the father has nothing to eat and must constantly fight against the blizzard. He puts the egg above his feet and warms it with his belly. But still, facing the icy storm, he needs the help of his group. When snowflakes are rolling with the gale, penguins tightly keep close to each other with their backs exposed to the wind. After an interval, penguins inside the circle voluntarily replace the outside ones.
While the father is tested by extreme hunger and artic winds, the mother is affronted with the attack of seals in the ocean. Against the odds, both of the protagonists survive. What is more exciting is that their chick begins to reveal his head from out of the shell!
The mother penguin finally finishes her first journey and comes back to find the waiting father and son. The penguin family gets a brief reunion. Now it is the father's turn to return to the ocean to have food, since these days' lack of food have made him lose half of his weight. Before departing, the father doesn't forget to ask his kid to memorize his voice for identification in the future.
With mother penguin's nurturing, the infant grows up day by day. He learns to walk, endure the storm and be independent. Mother's pouch seems too small for him to stay now. His plume gradually turns from gray to black and white and someday he will be as strong as his father.
March of the Penguins was released in American theaters in June 2005. Within a single day the penguins earned more at the box-office than War of the Worlds. The penguins easily defeated Tom Cruise! It sounds impossible. But the master of the documentary Luc Jacquet made it true.
Most Chinese audiences, even unfamiliar with this French filmmaker's name, must be acquainted with his two other works Microcosmos and Winged Migration. Due to Luc Jacquet's passion towards biology and filmmaking, people have a chance to access nature and discover a beautiful and mysterious world. Through his camera, even the mosquito becomes a luxurious star! After 12 years' preparation and 13 months' shooting at the South Pole, Luc Jacquet and his crew conquered many difficulties and finally managed to present the panorama of the penguin kingdom to audiences around the world.
The film market this summer was flooded with war movies represented by Star Wars III followed by War of the Worlds. When people turn on their TV sets, most of the programs they see are about guns and shooting for the sake of observing WW II. The March of the Penguins is just like a cold dish after enough chafing dishes. It brings to audiences the sense of coolness, quietness and peacefulness, and it takes people back to the world of love and reason.
In spite of some inciting asides such as "La vie, si belle" and "de plus en plus fort, de plus en plus fort"(respectively used to describe the egg and storm), the film could still be viewed as an unadorned morality tale. Compared with human cruelty and selfishness, these clumsy creatures incarnate love, sacrifice and responsibility. Although almost starving to death, the father penguin spit from out his stomach the remains of food to feed the chick; when the storm is coming, all penguins huddle together to get warm; the sad penguin mother wailing for her abortive child. All these make people contemplate and self-examine.
People nowadays work under great pressure to support families and unconsciously quicken the tempo of life. "I cannot wait"--the phrase is heard daily. Once audiences enter the cinema and watch these penguins, they have to slow down their pace and learn to wait. They need to wait patiently to see the birth of the chick, the termination of the storm and the boy penguins becoming adults.
The documentary Microcosmos directed by Luc Jacquet is also a classical example. In the colorful world of insects, an hour is passed like a day and a day is lived through like a year! People who have read the book Souvenir Entomologiques by Jean Henri Fabre must have experienced the long wait for the ants transporting food to their nest and a pupa turning to become a butterfly. In Luc Jacquet's films, audiences open their curious eyes to wait for the slightest changes of the world and the miracles to happen.
Hardly anyone could refuse these fragile creatures. Even hunters viewing the abortive chick would show their sympathy. Love of animals, human beings and the whole universe is the eternal theme. It is reported that in Shanghai, some mothers utilized The Penguins as material for prenatal instruction. Hopefully love can find its way in the following generation and every corner of the world.
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