March of the Penguins

Ran Watari

March of the Penguins is a 2005 French feature-length nature documentary, directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet. It won numerous awards, including an Oscar, and became one of the highest-grossing documentaries in movie history. Directors of the film spent a year in isolated terrain and challenging weather conditions in order to film the penguins in their natural habitat. The documentary depicts the yearly journey of the Emperor penguins in Antarctica.

At the end of summer, the penguins start the long journey to their traditional breeding ground. The film follows both male and female penguins’ actions until hatching their eggs and chicks’ life from their birth to independence. The story of penguins is portrayed as a “love tale” through family love, sacrifice, grief that the penguins experience during the journey.

This film allows the audience to observe the Emperor penguins’ severe and mysterious yearly habits with magnificent sceneries of Antarctica. The beautiful scenes and the story of penguins’ family love have attracted many viewers around the world. However, there are also some critiques about the film. Some criticize that the narration humanizes the animals and manipulates their story to fascinate the audience. That may mislead the viewers

People of all generations can enjoy the contents of “March of the Penguins,” but I think that it is aimed towards especially children and youths who don’t have much knowledge about the animals. While the story of the journey is interesting to watch, we cannot deny that the narration may manipulate the image of penguins and make a non-realistic story. However, for those who are not familiar with wildlife and nature, the interesting documentary can be the first step to learn about nature.

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