David O'ConnellArctic Tale
September 29th 2008 03:53
This majestic, moving documentary feature received little fanfare earlier this year but it’s easily the equal of The March of the Penguins, even if the connections between its two main subjects seem a little contrived and implausible.
Directors Adam Ravetch and Sarah Robertson transport us to the glittering ice kingdom of the earth's most northern point in the Arctic where global warming is having a degenerative effect on the natural cycles of all forms of life, the dwindling periods of freezing winter being more aggressively overlapped by higher temperatures, making it harder to sustain the normal cycles of thousands of years.
We follow the journey from birth to motherhood for polar bear cub Nanu, and walrus pup Seela, as they are taught to defend for themselves and survive the elements by their instructive, devoted mothers.
Nanu has a young brother to tag along for a while but his heartbreaking demise, as the shifting environmental changes play havoc with their capacity to find sustenance, leads to Nanu being left alone with her mother; she too is left to fend on her own eventually, hunting skills and a determination to survive newly ingrained in her nature.
Mortal danger is more common for the walrus pup with hungry predators lurking - among them the polar bears - and for Seela there will be a few close calls as she’s guided to safety and protected by her mother and ‘auntie’, who are willing to give their lives to defend their young.
Make no mistake, Arctic Tale resorts to a decidedly PG-slant to represent nature in that killing is glimpsed only from afar or shown in aftermath (as a wimp who can’t bear to see animals killing one another to survive, this was a good thing! But I can imagine those used to the David Attenborough school viewing this as a weak cop-out.)
Having Queen Latifah as narrator may seem like a frivolous misstep but she’s surprisingly good and at least something different from the overwrought familiarity of Morgan Freeman............so it could have been worse!!
The communication of these remarkable animals leaves you amazed at the depth of the instinctive love that spurs their behaviour and keeps them alive; their capacity for expressing tenderness and grief for their young almost takes on human proportions at times, giving the film an unworldly beauty that you’ll remember long after.
The cinematography by co-director Ravetch, as to be expected, is awe-inspiring, imbuing the arctic wonderland with an incalculable enormity, and a shimmering grandiosity that’s a visual treat for the senses.
Joby Talbot’s music is a stunning accompaniment, easily one of the best scores of the last year or two, never resorting to sentimentality and yet engaging the emotions through the rich diversity of his majestic orchestral themes, with palpable dread saved for the scenes of imminent danger.
Arctic Tale may be seen as a lightweight entry in the field of nature documentaries but nothing can diminish its potent beauty (not even learning that 'Nanu' and 'Seela' are composites of the many bears and walruses filmed), captured over the course of years by its makers, and the increasingly important environmental issues it raises.
A trailer that makes the film seem more trite and less worthy than it really is:
Directors Adam Ravetch and Sarah Robertson transport us to the glittering ice kingdom of the earth's most northern point in the Arctic where global warming is having a degenerative effect on the natural cycles of all forms of life, the dwindling periods of freezing winter being more aggressively overlapped by higher temperatures, making it harder to sustain the normal cycles of thousands of years.
We follow the journey from birth to motherhood for polar bear cub Nanu, and walrus pup Seela, as they are taught to defend for themselves and survive the elements by their instructive, devoted mothers.
Nanu has a young brother to tag along for a while but his heartbreaking demise, as the shifting environmental changes play havoc with their capacity to find sustenance, leads to Nanu being left alone with her mother; she too is left to fend on her own eventually, hunting skills and a determination to survive newly ingrained in her nature.
Mortal danger is more common for the walrus pup with hungry predators lurking - among them the polar bears - and for Seela there will be a few close calls as she’s guided to safety and protected by her mother and ‘auntie’, who are willing to give their lives to defend their young.
Nanu with her mum and brother
Make no mistake, Arctic Tale resorts to a decidedly PG-slant to represent nature in that killing is glimpsed only from afar or shown in aftermath (as a wimp who can’t bear to see animals killing one another to survive, this was a good thing! But I can imagine those used to the David Attenborough school viewing this as a weak cop-out.)
Having Queen Latifah as narrator may seem like a frivolous misstep but she’s surprisingly good and at least something different from the overwrought familiarity of Morgan Freeman............so it could have been worse!!
The communication of these remarkable animals leaves you amazed at the depth of the instinctive love that spurs their behaviour and keeps them alive; their capacity for expressing tenderness and grief for their young almost takes on human proportions at times, giving the film an unworldly beauty that you’ll remember long after.
Walrus pup Seela catches a few rays with her mum
The cinematography by co-director Ravetch, as to be expected, is awe-inspiring, imbuing the arctic wonderland with an incalculable enormity, and a shimmering grandiosity that’s a visual treat for the senses.
Joby Talbot’s music is a stunning accompaniment, easily one of the best scores of the last year or two, never resorting to sentimentality and yet engaging the emotions through the rich diversity of his majestic orchestral themes, with palpable dread saved for the scenes of imminent danger.
Arctic Tale may be seen as a lightweight entry in the field of nature documentaries but nothing can diminish its potent beauty (not even learning that 'Nanu' and 'Seela' are composites of the many bears and walruses filmed), captured over the course of years by its makers, and the increasingly important environmental issues it raises.
With the ice melting earlier and reforming later each year, the future in the Arctic is a bleak one for animal life
A trailer that makes the film seem more trite and less worthy than it really is:
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