Winged Migration Review

Winged Migration

by William Thomas |
Published on
Release Date:

05 Sep 2003

Running Time:

89 minutes

Certificate:

U

Original Title:

Winged Migration

Nominated for this year's Best Documentary Feature Oscar, French actor/director Jacques Perrin's project is an ornithologist's wet dream. Using cameras mounted on gliders, helicopters and balloons, the action gets right in amongst the feathered critters as they make their way across the world in search of food.

The cinematography is absolutely breathtaking, with multiple 'how the hell did they do that?' moments, as the camera sits in the middle of a flock of birds or sails alongside a lone goose through a winding canyon.

There's even the occasional touch of pathos (birds getting picked off by predators) and comedy from some of the more bizarre-looking varieties. The problem is that it just goes on for far too long. Watching the birds fly to Antarctica is captivating; watching them fly all the way back again via the same route is just plain boring.

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