Having trouble appreciating the ubiquitous Canadian goose? Usurping many suburban parks with their squawking and their droppings, these creatures seem more American than the neglected bald eagle. In the Oscar-nominated documentary Winged Migration, French director Jacques Perrin succeeds in making the Canadian goose and his feathered friends not only inoffensive, but beautiful.
Perrin’s artistry arises primarily from his reliance on international scenery and fourteen cinematographers. Spanning all seven continents, the settings are visually stunning. Besides the general seasonal movements of the birds, there is no real plot, only a progression of images. Vivid crimson sunsets, solar eclipses, sweeping desert sands, and thunderous avalanches provide the backdrop for the well-traveled birds.
The impressive camera angles allow the audience to see the world from a bird’s-eye view. Rich French countryside, arctic glaciers and eroded buttes fly by as the camera is inches from a bird’s side. Perrin’s documentary achieves these vantage points only after four years of raising birds with the help of hundreds of biology students. The birds recognize the first moving thing they see as a mother, and thus were comfortable having them in gliders at their sides. Perrin also employed seventeen pilots, using planes, helicopters and balloons.
One frustrating distraction during these scenes is that the curious audience is rarely told specifically what they are looking at. On occasion, birds fly past obviou landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, by the Statue of Liberty, and the Great Wall of China. But the majority of the movie, the details of location are left out or, like “The Amazon,” labeled generally.
And don’t expect the step-by-step commentary of a PBS nature documentary, either. Perrin only interjects narration to somewhat tritely express his ideas on migration as a “story of a promise … to return.” The first time a bird species is shown on screen, captions appear and tell its name, how far it migrates and where it travels from. Perrin is not so much interested in inculcating the audience with biological facts as providing a vicarious exerperience at flight.
The longest trip is made by the Arctic tern, who flies 12,500 miles between the poles. The only truly hokey part of the movie comes when, to exaggerate the distance the terns travel, they are seen flying high over a computer-generated globe.
Laced throughout the film are elements of humor and pity. The birds’ antics are often inexplicably strange and amusing, particularly when fighting or hunting. Birds to watch out for: the unfortunately named Barnacle Goose, the bizarre-looking Greater Sage Grouse and the funny-walking Rockhopper Penguin. Comedy exits when we see birds wading through industrial parks, one getting stuck in oil, and when, in the most disturbing scene, an injured bird is devoured by menacing crabs.
No matter how gorgeous the scenery is overall, one can only be entertained watching birds for so long. Eighty-nine minutes exceeds that point. As the film has no real plot, the pretty imagery and the accompanying Gregorian Chant-like music make Winged Migration, in the end, a bit soporific. Undeniably beautiful but ultimately long-winded, this film would be best appreciated by students during the study days before final exams.
