Cinerant

March of the Loons

The two biggest nature documentaries that came out in 2005--Grizzly Man and March of the Penguins couldn't be more different.

Penguins is a cute little standard nature documentary about the mating process of the emperor penguins. The cinematography is great. Morgan Freeman's narration is cute. There's some unexpected humor in the exploits of the little waiter birds, but overall, it's a cutsey nature documentary, just like others that National Geographic has put out. I honestly don't see the massive appeal. It's a DVD rental, and not much else.



Despite its title, Grizzly Man is the story of a loon. This loon's name is Tim Treadwell, who, as the self-appointed protector of grizzly bears, stayed out in the wild with grizzlies for a bunch of summers. He thinks that he's the only person who cares about the bears. He'll protect them from people and they'll protect him. (He probably would object to stuffed bears and would sic the animals on those other loons who use bear skins as art projects.)

Oh, ultimately one of the bears eats him and his girlfriend.

The guy was so sadly delusional that I kept thinking, well, if I were a bear, I'd eat him too.

Still, it's a fascinating portrait of an individual who doesn't have both oars in the water.

posted by cinegod @ 10:02 AM