Review of Winged Migration (2001) by Achilles Z — 20 Jul 2007

This documentary shows people what life is all about powerfully by depicting the birds' migration.I really feel something when watching this movie,I even think it's much better than many great movies I watched before. Life is tough,this is what a lot of movies had been trying to tell us by filming a story of a single mother or ambitious young people or unfortunate guys surviving calamities.But by watching such movies our appreciation to the theme is restrained and weakened due to the reason that these stories happen around us,a story-watching state of mind overrides the awareness and meditation of the film,for example in North Country, not everyone was thinking 'life is cruel' or to be relevant to the theme ,'we need a better law against this problem' when they watched Charlize Theron being sexually harrassed,instead ,it were thoughts and guesses of how would the story continue that actually flipped across their minds.

In this Winged Migration there's no such a problem,humans are not birds,we don't concern problems like 'when can I catch a fish in the water?' or 'The air current is not helping,fly higher!' If you come across the same things all the time you'll not notice it, people don't touched by movies of human activities because they've been numb staying in human environment, but for a documentary of the birds,I think most of us will be able to get lucid and objective enough to take note of its general plot and feel the theme profoundly as a spectator of the nature.Dramatic effect isn't the major attraction ,the birds' migration is. Maybe we cannot feel the ordeals the birds had been through ,but we can definitely see their difficulties. Feeling the pain doesn't necessarily allow you to conclude somthing,but knowing well how much pain and how many tribulations these birds experienced allows you to appreciate life.

As a documentary ,the Winged Migration is flawless .Some people may find it uncomfortable to learn that the birds were actually partially domesticated,but these birds showed a spectacular migration nontheless.Perfect scenery,perfect arrangement of the filming sequence of the migrations of various species.The soundtrack is also excellent,I particularly favor the pieces of the opera-like singing,combined with the picture ,it is purely beautiful.

The movie shows two aspects of 'Life'.When we watch a new life struggling out of an egg, it's the opposite of death that we're talking about,usually this aspect brings out our fascination towards the nature;the other aspect is more philosophical and common with our human life,which also means a grand journey full of hardship,all for one purpose:to live.