Movies released during the
warm-weather months are traditionally designed for escapism. It’s almost
impossible to become emotionally invested in the little dead girl ruining the
hardwoods upstairs or the superhero who looks like an angry pile of rocks, and
some people prefer it that way. But others like a little truth in their
entertainment, and for fans of quality nonfiction filmmaking, this is turning
into a banner summer.
The latest in the documentary boon is
March
of the Penguins, a nifty piece of filmmaking that basically shows how
emperor penguins go about making more emperor penguins. Don’t fork over your
cash in anticipation of steamy penguin porn, however. French director Luc
Jacquet and his crew spent over a year in Antarctica tracking the continent’s
only existing life form as it winds its way across an unforgiving landscape for
the sole purpose of meeting, mating, and then raising fluffy babies.
Every autumn, thousands of penguins
trek 70 miles inland to the place where they all were born. They find a mate,
nuzzle for a while, and out pops an egg which must be quickly shifted to a
place under the folds of the female’s abdomen so it doesn’t freeze. Then, in a
mindblowing series of maneuvers, the malnourished female passes the egg to her
mate so she can make the grueling trip back to the sea and feed. The males
proceed to stand in one large clump for over two wintry months and incubate the
eggs, despite winds up to 100 miles an hour and temperatures as low as 80
degrees below zero.
The females return within a few days
after the eggs hatch and miraculously identify their mates and babies. The
starving males then head for the watery buffet, making sure to imprint their
squawks upon the youngsters so they will recognize their dads upon their
return. And when the males come back, it’s time for the females to leave again.
These penguins aren’t averse to abandoning their children if they get too
hungry, so timing is everything.
The images on screen — along with
kindly narration by Morgan Freeman — effectively convey the brutal conditions
faced by these penguins. Despite deadly seals, pesky birds, and unimaginable
cold, they go about doing what evolution has programmed them to do. The closing
credits are actually one of the highlights of the film, featuring shots of the
penguins curiously observing the actions of the crew, possibly in anticipation
of making a documentary of their own about insane Gortex-covered creatures
wielding cameras.
My sister wondered whether March is appropriate for my 6-year-old
nephew, which I suspected was a shorthand way of asking about the body count. I
also suspect that TV has convinced many of your kids that they want to see March, so I’ll tell you what I told her:
These penguins must contend with a predator or two as well as sub-sub-zero
temperatures, so not everyone makes it.
March might be a tiny bit scary at times, but it’s never gory. The only problem a
younger child might have with March is boredom. The penguins spend a great deal of time trudging from place to
place and waiting for others to show up and do their job. But who can’t relate
to that?
It
occurred to me after I saw the bawdy and hilarious The Wedding Crashers that
Hollywood isn’t producing decent R-rated comedies for grownups these days.
Apparently funny films with reckless swearing and jiggly nudity don’t make that
much money. I’m sorry, but I really enjoy raunchy farce in which adults behave
like… oh, I’m just kidding. I’m not sorry at all.
John and Jeremy (laid-back Owen
Wilson and manic Vince Vaughn) are wedding crashers who infiltrate the wedding
of one of Treasury Secretary Cleary’s (Christopher Walken) daughters. Cleary’s
two other daughters catch John and Jeremy’s eyes, and hilarity ensues after the
men get invited to the Secretary’s swanky estate for the weekend.
Wilson and Vaughn are the perfect
odd-couple pairing, and Vaughn in particular has never been better as a man who
has finally met his match. Walken is predictably intense yet silly, and
formerly wholesome Jane Seymour gamely plays his oversexed wife.
Crashers unfortunately loses a little steam in its third act when John and Jeremy try to
straighten up and fly right, but then one of the goofiest men in Hollywood
cameos as their mentor who wrote the rules on crashing weddings… but has now
moved on to funerals. You know who I’m talking about. No, not that one — the
other one.
The March of the Penguins(G) opens
Friday, July 22, at the Little Theatre and Pittsford Cinema. | TheWedding Crashers(R) is playing
at Canandaigua Theatres, Culver Ridge Cinemas, Eastview 13, Geneseo Theatres,
Greece Ridge 12, Henrietta 18, Pittsford Cinema, Tinseltown, Vintage Drive-In.
This article appears in Jul 20-26, 2005.
