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Preview by: Jack Foley
HARD as it may seem to believe, but a group of penguins could
yet prove the financial winners at the American summer box office.
March of the Penguins is a low budget wildlife documentary that
has taken America (quietly) by storm.
It focuses on the mating habits of the emperor penguin and, at
one stage, was pulling in larger audiences at the few cinemas
it was being distributed in than Tom Cruise's War of the Worlds
and Batman Begins combined.
Indeed, its performance over two weeks of American release was
so prolific that it went from 20 screens to 350 screens in the
space of a week to cope with demand.
Needless to say, no one saw it coming but in its own small way,
the documentary helped to ease the decline in summer ticket sales
that marked the first half of the year at the US box office.
Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, has hailed
it as 'awesome' and praised the word of mouth campaign that had
helped March of the Penguins reach its wide audience.
The film is the work of French director, Luc Jacquet, and it
follows the mating rituals of the emperor penguin, one of the
most resilient animals on earth.
Each summer, after a nourishing period of deep-sea feeding, the
penguins pop up onto the ice and begin their procession across
the frozen tundra of Antarctica.
Walking in single file, they are a sight to behold. Hundreds
converge from every direction, moving instinctively toward their
mating ground. Once there, they mingle and chatter until they
find the perfect mate - a monogamous match that will last a year,
through the brutal winter and into the spring.
During that time, the mother will birth an egg and then leave
for the ocean to feed again. The father will stay to protect the
egg through the freezing blizzards and pure darkness of winter,
which would be deadly to practically any other species. Finally,
with spring, the egg hatches and the baby penguins are born.
Mothers return from the sea to reunite with their families and
feed the starving newborns, while the fathers are finally relieved
of their protective duties after months without food.
The film is remarkable in its story, which is narrated by Morgan
Freeman, whose dignified voice gives the penguins the grave admiration
they deserve.
But even more incredible is its photography, which shows the
penguins hunting underwater, sliding on the ice, and in the midst
of 'kissing'.
March of the Penguins will open in UK cinemas later this year.
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US reaction
The penguins didn't only conquer audiences, but critics too,
with many US journalists falling over themselves to hail this
wildlife masterpiece.
The Houston Chronicle described it as 'a rousing
affirmation of nature's brilliance in the face of environmental
challenge'.
While Entertainment Weekly wrote that 'Luc Jacquet's
exquisitely shot eye-of-God study of a year in the lives of these
distinctive birds is a nature film built with a feel for the epic
and a love of operatic narrative'.
Time Magazine referred to it as 'a gentle film
about somewhat alien beings, who entertain us by creating instead
of destroying'.
While USA Today felt that 'March of the Penguins
captivates with its straightforward but powerful story of dogged
determination, survival against harsh odds and sacrifice'.
And the Boston Globe opined: "Kids might
blanch at some of the more upsetting images, but ultimately the
movie will delight and uplift more families than it will scare."
Strong, too, was Variety, which noted that 'the
spirit-lifting finale will delight auds hearty enough to brave
the journey'.
While the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that
'it instills a deep reverence for the unforgiving power of nature
and the stubborn resilience of life'.
The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, wrote that
'the stoic, resolute heroes and heroines of Luc Jacquet's March
of the Penguins captivate the viewer'.
And the New York Times felt that 'it's impossible
to watch the emperor penguins in Luc Jacquet's sentimental but
riveting documentary without feeling a tug of anthropomorphic
kinship'.
The final word, however, goes to the Chicago Sun-Times,
which concludes this overview by stating: "When they fall
over, they do it with a remarkable lack of style. And for all
the walking they do, they're ungainly waddlers. Yet they are perfect
in their way, with sleek coats, grace in the water and heroic
determination."
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