Morgan Freeman Can Do Whatever He Wants...

Tonight's topic: Penguin Doodles. Penguins in heat. Cold as a bucket of Penguin Poop.

No no no.......the movie was nothing like that.

I got to see 'March Of The Penguins' Friday night and again, I was stupefied my these nature films.

Ok, of late I have watched (actually it was about a year ago in my documentary class, which I promptly got from Netflix) a movie called "Winged Migration." It's made by a French filmmaker and follows the migration of a flock of geese. Well, watching this movie is stunning.....you actually fly with the birds, right next to them in the air. There is a bit of emotion: heartbreak when some of them die, and happiness at the sheer beauty. Lots more emotions, just don't feel like mentioning them now.

Anyway......turns out that when you watch the special features you realize you have been slightly tricked. The movie took four years to make: They actually bred the birds, built ultralight planes that were quiet, but raised the birds and trained them to fly with the planes so they could be filmed. It was a documentary of sorts, but it was more about the beauty of migration than about getting it on film as it happens naturally.

Which brings me to penguins.

From what I can find, this movie was actually shot on location and captured the true story of how Emperor Penguins march 70 miles, breed, then several weeks later when the egg is....ummmm, born?......it is handed to the father as the mother waddles back 70 miles to eat. Meanwhile, the eggs are hatched under the fathers' care, but the fathers haven't eaten for 4 months, so they have to wait for the mothers to return. When they do, the chicks are fed by the moms, then handed off to the mothers whle the dads go eat (70 miles away). Then, when the fathers return, there is much rejoicing......as the chicks learn to walk and be Emperor Penguins. Then, the mothers and fathers must leave and waddle back home 70 miles away, leaving the chicks to themselves......until spring comes and the ice breaks away so that the ocean is only a few hundred yards away, after which the chicks make their way to the ocean and swim away.......only to return in 4 years to breed.

And all that happens in 85 fantastic minutes----but it's a bit more complex than that on film. As the posters say: it is a story about love. It's just so amazing to see what these penguins do and how they live and survive. I really do like nature films, and this is one for the books.

Oh, and Morgan Freeman narrates.