The journey of the penguins

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The journey of the penguins
Original title La marche de l'empereur
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 2005
length about 84 minutes
Age rating FSK 0
JMK 6
Rod
Director Luc Jacquet
script Luc Jacquet
Michel Fessler
production Yves Darondeau
Christophe Lioud
Emmanuel Priou
music Émilie Simon ,
Alex Wurman (US version)
camera Laurent Chalet
Jérôme Maison
cut Sabine Emiliani
occupation

The Journey of the Penguins is the debut film by the French filmmaker and Antarctic researcher Luc Jacquet . The animal film is based on a story by Jacquet, which he and Michel Fessler adapted for the big screen . The film was produced in 2005 by the film studios Bonne Pioche , Canal Plus and Buena Vista International , among others .

content

In terms of content, the arduous life situation of the emperor penguins in the Antarctic , especially on the long hikes to their breeding grounds, is documented in a dramatic way. They received human voices and conduct dialogues in which they express feelings such as love, courage, the will to survive or the willingness to make sacrifices ( anthropomorphism ).

reception

Because of its religious dimension, the film is particularly controversial in the USA . Supporters of fundamentalist Christian movements see in the Passion of the Animals a point of evidence against Darwin's theory of evolution , but also for monogamy and the existence of God . Scientific critics, on the other hand, point out that penguins have a varied sexual life in which homosexuality also plays a role.

Luc Jacquet, on the other hand, said in the French daily Le Monde that he was a staunch Darwinist and opposed “any form of conversion zeal”.

One point of criticism of the German version was the adoption of the human voices of the penguins, which gives many viewers the impression that this is a children's film . This is also underlined by music based on effects. In the English version, the film received a symphonic background with a cautious commentary, spoken by Morgan Freeman . In addition to the dubbed version, the German-language “Special Edition” DVD contains a soundtrack in the style of a documentary with Sky du Mont as the speaker, who dispenses with the penguins' speech. The music is the same; there is only one factual difference: a leopard seal prey on a female penguin. In the anthropomorphic version, it also extinguishes the life of the chick that has hatched away, which is dependent on the return of the female. In the documentary version, the narrator mentions that mainly young, inexperienced females fall victim to predators who have not laid an egg (emperor penguins have a significant excess of females). On April 9, 2007, ProSieben showed the synchronized version with the "talking penguins", while ORF 1 simultaneously broadcast the version set to music in the style of a documentation.

National or international success

Worldwide the film achieved gross profits of around $ 127 million; outside the USA around 50 million dollars were made, in the USA around 77 million dollars, which was a record for nature documentaries up to this point. Overall, the film ranks second in its category in terms of viewership in the USA behind Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 (as of 2008).

In addition, the journey of the penguins is one of the most successful documentaries in Germany with almost 1.4 million visitors.

Reviews

  • “Jacquet did not want to make a documentary in the sense of the ethnographic Sielmann films. The real journey of the penguins is not quite as spectacular, the privations not as great as shown in the film. The filmmaker had designed a dramaturgy beforehand and planned every single scene. In this way, he creates a narrative style that may seem cheesy in a few moments, but does not miss its effect. As a viewer you are captivated, the transfer to the human way of life is not difficult. " ( Der Spiegel )
  • “Jaquet elevates events to the eternal cycle of life and death. Much of the beauty of his pictures is taken away by the human style. At Jaquet, penguins can speak - and that's not a good idea. " ( Frankfurter Rundschau )
  • “The breathtaking images that Jacquet's team captured are so beautiful that we cry. Penguins have never been so close to us. No question: they are beings like us. Only braver, more faithful, more self-sacrificing. That’s what the pictures tell us. But Jacquet absolutely had to let the birds speak too. " ( Die Welt )
  • “It is noticeable that the film, which cannibalizes every torture and every failure with great attention to detail, maintains very chaste restraint, especially when it comes to the love-making of animals, and keeps a distance. The result is an exemplary triad of monogamy, willingness to make sacrifices and chaste tenderness, to which conservative viewer interests can perfectly dock. " ( Film-dienst )
  • “With the film 'The Journey of the Penguins' by French director Luc Jacquet, we now have a precise documentation of the emperor penguins' migration, which, as the success of the film in US cinemas shows, is perceived far beyond the circles that such Otherwise reach films. This is no coincidence: Jacquet is not only an experienced field researcher and behavioral biologist - he is also an excellent cameraman and nature photographer. And last but not least, he comes from the 'right' country in a twofold sense. " ( Welt am Sonntag )
  • “Formally, the film is convincing with its sometimes surreal image compositions, these strangely untouched ice landscapes that suggest calm and equilibrium, but hardly any tough struggles for survival, the enchanting visual play of cold, glistening light, this deceptive sun and the bizarre alternation between melancholy opal and merciless Azure. And through the music. Thank goodness no pompous orchestration was added to the battle of the penguins. The French Emilie Simon provided the score and songs, which are sometimes reminiscent of Björk, Stina Nordenstam or Portishead and round off a fascinating work of art in their playfulness and fragility. " ( Playerweb.de )
  • “Jacquet has found overwhelmingly beautiful, touching and sometimes disturbing settings in the ice desert [...] Perhaps Jacquet's questionable company could have succeeded somehow. Unfortunately, Jacquet is engaged in a ruthless process of self-destruction on the soundtrack. It starts with the horrible music and the foolish songs [...] The destruction increases with the speakers of the off-lyrics [...:] 'Are everyone there?' [...] as if you were in a puppet theater. " ( Süddeutsche Zeitung )

Awards

See also

  • Willy Puchner : Die Sehnsucht der Pinguine (A journey of two penguins around the world) , Frederking & Thaler, 2004, ISBN 3-89405-518-9
  • Jérôme Bouvier: Antarctica: The Journey of the Penguins , ARTE documentary, France 2016

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Age rating for The Journey of the Penguins . Youth Media Commission .