Rating: Summary: You have to see this film! Review: This film is the most powerful film that I have seen in a decade. It will leave you with images for a lifetime. VERY well done! Particularly, I would suggest that you watch the subfilm included in the DVD that shows how they made Wings of Migration. It is as powerful (or maybe even more) than the film itself. This film is a true masterpiece. I'm buying many copies for gifts!
Rating: Summary: A little less ambient, and it'd be a masterpiece! Review: There are undoubtedly, magical moments in this film.The opening is quite entrancing ...showing the bird-flock at ground-level living, in a Belgian(?) village river engulfed by mist. Another scene is drifting majestically, when all of a sudden ...a gunshot and a falling bird.This contrast was jolting and deeply sadening. Another scene, a caged bird is photographed in close-up, as he views his kin-species flying off to a far away land.Knowing just how much scenery these birds had covered (hi-lighting their freedom to do the journey) really makes seeing the caged bird's response, especially emotional. Alot of beautiful scenery is captured.But, there isn't much variety in the birdly activities covered.Alot of flapping wings, but not much detail on their interactions with each other, and their environment.Any of their reactions to things, are from afar.(They're all 'large' migrating birds).And more atmosphere could've been given had there been some attention focused on the landscapes, villages and cities involved thru-out their journeys. The narration was minimal, but really well done.His voice is very soft, so very appropriate.The soundtrack contains unusual choices.Some do work, but some don't.An aquired taste.In all, it is a pleasure to see a documentary based on the 'feel' of the subject, rather than the 'facts and figures' approach.So, I hope it has set up a precedent for this under-utilized approach to documentary-making.But, I certainly believe that it was "too ambient" to be a 'outright' success.This would need to be adressed if they are to make an outright classic.But the 'seeds' for a masterpiece are definetely 'sown' here.There is a love for nature in this film which is truly infectious.
Rating: Summary: A Vison! Review: What a gorgeous movie.....the cinematography was absolutely incredible. It was a pleasure to watch. I found myself "rewinding" the DVD to watch parts of it over again. Nature was presented in all its beauty and harshness. I also really enjoyed the featurette at the end which showed how some birds were trained and imprinted, and also how the filming itself was accomplished. This technical information was fascinating. Highly recommended.
Rating: Summary: Birds With Purpose Review: Incredible close up and personal footage of birds, with virtually no narration. While the lack of narration allows you to put your own perspective on the life of birds, I wanted more from a "purchase." When you purchase a movie, you expect to watch it over and over again. And although this was beautiful, I can't see a real reason to watch it over and over again. Plus, I thought the soundtrack was awful and annoying! It did almost nothing to compliment the film in any way. One scene that I am glad they included was of a caged bird, watching a flock of birds overhead. It showed the sadness in his eyes, a reminder that he too was once free and still longed to be.
Rating: Summary: A Timeless Masterpiece of Visual Beauty Review: This film is a masterpiece of visual beauty. It will be seen and appreciated a hundred years from now. If humans could aspire to create such a gorgeous paen to life on earth, then one can believe that there is still time for the human race to improve itself. The mind-numbingly beautiful footage of birds in flight is too beautiful for words. Watch this film and be amazed at the wonderful beauty that fills nature. Be glad that such beauty exists in this world.
Rating: Summary: Incomparable....Indescribable Review: I am unable to describe with words what can only be experienced visually. What to say next? Perhaps to pose another question: How would you like to fly among, indeed next to migratory birds of various species and do so as if you were one of them? After seeing this film, it is obvious why producing it required five directors, hundreds of crew associates, and three years of immensely complicated effort. The result is difficult to categorize. It is a documentary, yes, but one whose primary purpose is not to explain but to reveal, indeed celebrate its migratory subjects. It is a travelogue, yes, but even while enabling the viewer to complete a transcontinental journey, the film focuses most of its attention on the birds themselves rather than on the lands and waters over which they soar. This film is an incomparable and (as these brief comments indicate) an indescribable experience.
Rating: Summary: How can people NOT love this video? Review: I don't get the negative reviews. I feel this is one of the most beautiful and timeless pieces of photographic work I've ever seen. See it, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Rating: Summary: Birded Brilliance Review: This film is a wholly natural poetic master brushstroke of a work. It is hypnotic. It is enthralling. It is subsuming. It is, well...just a darn good watch. "Winged Migration" doesn't seek to tell a story but does so unintentionally. It is the story of a million birds answering the pull of nature, heeding the call of instinctual collective unconscious stamping, by soaring and flapping their way over forty countries, all the continents, season by season. And what do you know, we have it all captured on film for our enjoyment in our very own dens and enclosed sheltered spaces of the human world. French director Jacques Perrin and his worldly film crew went through some considerable effort and even danger to bring this work of art to you and me. Through Pavlovian bonding Perrin and Crew have raised flocks of birds to accept their ultra-lites, balloons, flying machines, cameras, as one of their own allowing these up close shots of the rhythm and rhyme of bird flight. The end effect is stunning. What you will realize if you should so choose to purchase these DVD is that you are getting two films for the price of one. The "Making of..." portion of the extra offerings on the "Winged Migration," is ever bit as fascinating as the streaming eye-candy scenes of birds and landscape and cityscape that flow by in the main attraction. This DVD played in our house as ambient background and center stage viewing for one lost weekend. It was peaceful. It made an unusual connection to nature for humans sometimes relegated to the safety behind four walls. Beware it may have a Pink Floyd "Wall-esque" effect so don't watch while inebriated or under other influences too terribly much at risk of addiction. It is that mesmerizing. Fly with "Winged Migration," you'll see the wonder. --MMW
Rating: Summary: Bird's Eye View Review: An excellent film! After watching this movie you will never look at birds the same way ever again. Beautifully (and amazingly!) shot, you will feel like you are flying with the birds in this film. This film also takes an interesting look at birds migratiion throughout the world. You will see birds on every continent of the earth and see many of the challenges they face in their quest for survival.
Rating: Summary: Let your heart take flight Review: Winged Migration is not like other documentaries. Instead of trying to explain all about birds and their migratory patterns, this breath-taking experience SHOWS you the world from a literal bird's-eye-view as they travel along their migratory route. Although the airborne photography is the highlight of this film, there is also footage of some other aspects of different kids of birds' lives. The highlight of this other portion of the film was for me DEFINITELY the dancing of the cranes, something I had wanted to see, but never had the opporunity to witness beefore. The photography in Winged Migration is mind-bending in it's beauty, and the overall effect produced while watching the birds soar through the atmosphere is not that of a camera photographing something, but of you yourself being transformed into a bird and going along for the ride. Of course because there is so little talking in this picture, people are bound to come up with different ideas about what exactly it means. To me this movie is all about the beauty of nature, the amazing design of birds, and the awe-inspiring power of such small creatures being able to travel mind-boggling distances from one side of the earth to the other. Some things just have to be appreciated for their own sake, the beauty of birds in flight is one such thing.
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