Love, drama, courage, adventure...

Love, drama, courage, adventure...these were the elements of the movie I watched yesterday. It did not have any of the top rated stars in hollywood or bollywood....but it was one of the best movies on these elements that I have seen in the recent times!

La Marche De L’Empereur (The emperor's journey)
(Probably better known in the english version - The march of the Penguins)
The 'documentary' is about the truly remarkable journey that has been taking place every winter, for thousands of years, in the most inhospitable terrain on earth - Antarctica. The emperor penguins, as if guided by the vow that their forefathers made, journey from the security of the ocean in a single file to the breeding ground. As if by magic, penguins from all over the ocean meet at the same spot, year after year.

"after a ritual courtship of intricate dances and delicate maneuvering, accompanied by a cacophony of ecstatic song - they will pair off into monogamous couples and mate" (http://wip.warnerbros.com/marchofthepenguins/) The original French version of the movie (which I had the good fortune of seeing!) has amazing songs by Emilie Simon. The entire setting, the music and lyrics is more romantic than the usual mushy scenes in commercial movies! (I understand the English translation of the movie just has instrumental music.)

The penguins go through this ritual which is fraught with so much danger as if the purpose of the existence is to reproduce and prove to someone that they have the courage and strength to make it through the grueling feat. We talked about the movie on our way back. We agreed that if the penguins had a little more intelligence they would probably sit back and question - 'Hey, why the hell am I going through all this mess?I might not even make it alive to the breeding ground.How will I live for months without food?' and just live happily ever after in the ocean and penguins would probably be extinct by now! :)

As one can imagine, the making of the documentary itself was very difficult. It took an entire year to shoot the movie...this meant that the 2 camera men lived in the pitiless desert, cut of from the rest of the world, for an entire year. Anyway, the result is very much worth their efforts!