March of the Penguins

[elder_nomo]

Has anybody seen this movie? What did you think?

I watched it today and thought it was fascinating. Penguins have a remarkable cycle of life, including long, arduous journeys, shared parenting, and life-and-death struggles. Whether you believe life on this planet was created by God, or by Mother Nature or by random chance, the complexity of just this one species is amazing. Thinking of the great variety of life on earth is awesome.

[peter_mary]

Has anybody seen this movie? What did you think?

Not only have we seen it, but we own it, and we gave away multiple copies at Christmas (often with appropriately playful toy penguin to go with...)

We L-O-V-E-D this movie! See, I was ready to conceed that Morgan Freeman was a better than average God after seeing Bruce Almighty, but after hearing him narate this film, I knew for certain that at least that VOICE is divine!

True, the 'love story' between the penguins is a tad anthropomorphized, but the story is compelling, the cinemtography is spectacular, the music is great, and the penguins are just so damn cool!

I haven't taken the time yet to watch "the Making of" feature on the DVD, but I understand it is every bit as good as the movie itself, with the French team who filmed it showing an incredible dedication to their work and to their subjects. I expect we'll watch that this weekend.

:)

[dancinfree]

Our family saw this movie for the first time a week ago and MAN!! I loved it so much!! Aether and I were squealing through the whole thing...those penguins are amazing and the babies are sooooo adorable. I just loved it and recommend it to everyone!! Nature is truly divine and for me, nothing is more powerful!!

PM..glad to see you gave this movie for gifts..wonderful idea!! :p

[helemon]

Has anybody seen this movie? What did you think?

I watched it today and thought it was fascinating. Penguins have a remarkable cycle of life, including long, arduous journeys, shared parenting, and life-and-death struggles. Whether you believe life on this planet was created by God, or by Mother Nature or by random chance, the complexity of just this one species is amazing. Thinking of the great variety of life on earth is awesome.

While it did have beautiful cinematography, I thought it was also a sad story as well. I thought how strange nature is that it hard codes into creatures minds the need to return to the place of their birth in order to mate and give birth to a new generation. I suppose it could be argued that the difficult journey helps to weed out the weak and sick. And I suppose that the remote hostile location helps to limit their exposure to predators, although there was that albatross that was trying to carry off a chick. Still it makes me wonder if there isn't something like this in humans that causes us to hold so dogmatically to the teachings and traditions of our youth. Do people feel some strange pull toward the myths and stories on which they were raised even if alternative and less hostile or harmful traditions are presented to them?

I thought it was interesting that the parents were so protective of their chick at first, knowing their chicks sound, fighting off rogue mothers who had lost their chick and were trying to steal another birds chick, but then toward the end the parents just head off to the sea and leave the chicks to fend for themselve for the final period of maturation and they note that they will likely never see their parents again. So again we see that how the Mormon church says families should operate and how Nature has designed families to operate is not the same and not consistent across species.

My third grader watched it at school and didn't like it much. A friends daughter also saw it at school and thought it was a very sad movie.

[elder_nomo]

While it did have beautiful cinematography, I thought it was also a sad story as well. I thought how strange nature is that it hard codes into creatures minds the need to return to the place of their birth in order to mate and give birth to a new generation. I suppose it could be argued that the difficult journey helps to weed out the weak and sick. And I suppose that the remote hostile location helps to limit their exposure to predators, although there was that albatross that was trying to carry off a chick. Still it makes me wonder if there isn't something like this in humans that causes us to hold so dogmatically to the teachings and traditions of our youth. Do people feel some strange pull toward the myths and stories on which they were raised even if alternative and less hostile or harmful traditions are presented to them?
I had a similar thought at first - why in the world would they make that trek? But somewhere along the way in the movie, there was at least a partial explanation. I can't remember exactly, but something about the fact that the area near the sea is not stable enough. They move inland where the ice is thicker and there is less danger of ice breaking which could cause separation and/or slipping into the water before chicks are ready. By the time the chicks are grown enough, so much ice has melted that the breeding ground is only a few hundred yards from the sea.
Now how they "know" all this is what's really amazing and mysterious.
See, I was ready to conceed that Morgan Freeman was a better than average God after seeing Bruce Almighty, but after hearing him narate this film, I knew for certain that at least that VOICE is divine!
Agree. I could listen to him all day. Did you see "Shawshank Redemption"? (another favorite of mine).

[helemon]

I had a similar thought at first - why in the world would they make that trek? But somewhere along the way in the movie, there was at least a partial explanation. I can't remember exactly, but something about the fact that the area near the sea is not stable enough. They move inland where the ice is thicker and there is less danger of ice breaking which could cause separation and/or slipping into the water before chicks are ready. By the time the chicks are grown enough, so much ice has melted that the breeding ground is only a few hundred yards from the sea.
Now how they "know" all this is what's really amazing and mysterious.


I must have missed that part. I wonder how the melting Antartic ice shelf is impacting their breeding activities? Is the breeding ground over solid land or is it ice?

[elder_nomo]

I must have missed that part. I wonder how the melting Antartic ice shelf is impacting their breeding activities? Is the breeding ground over solid land or is it ice?
I think the breeding area is covered with ice, but I don't know if they said whether there is solid ground under that ice or not. I'll probably be watching this again and will pay attention and report back if no one else does first.

In any case, it seems the melting ice shelf is going to have an impact no matter what. :(