March of the Penguins

The unexpected hit of 2005 was the big screen nature documentary, March of the Penguins. Not many features of this sort get a theatrical release at all and its popularity with the critics and the public was a welcome departure from the usual offerings. It won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and has been successful all over the world. The film was directed by Luc Jacquet and the original release was in the French language. The American version has Morgan Freeman as its narrator. The National Geographic Society co-produced the project, which took a whole year to film at a French science base in Adelieland.

First screened at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, it went on general release and became the second most successful documentary in the US, only surpassed by Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. The life of a colony of Emperor Penguins is a tough one and audiences have responded to their hardships and cheered their triumphs. The film showed that they have to survive in the most inhospitable locations and atrocious weather conditions.

The plucky penguins, when reaching breeding maturity, have to make an arduous journey every Fall from the ocean across the Antarctica to the interior breeding grounds. Their destination is the pack ice, which remains solid through all the seasons. The March of the Penguins shows the courtship rituals as they shelter from 300 km/h winds. Each penguin mates with one other penguin in a year and the female lays one egg. After the egg laying, things get even more difficult, as the egg cannot be allowed to touch the ground. The cold is so bad that the unborn chick would not survive. The male takes over from the female in protecting the egg, whilst she returns to the sea for food to bring back to the colony.

All this and in -80F temperatures. The penguins also have to protect the chicks against hunters, such as Giant Petrel birds. For the chicks that survive, it's a happy ending and an uplifting tale of courage over adversity. They say that imitation is the best form of flattery and The March of the Penguins is to have a parody version, scheduled for release in 2007. Titled Farce of the Penguins, it will feature Samuel L. Johnson as narrator. The penguin phenomenon has continued with the movie, Happy Feet. The March of the Penguins marches ever onwards!

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