su·per·cil·i·ous·ness

Website: warnerbros.com
Director: Luc Jacquet
Lead: Jordan Roberts
Co-Star: Morgan Freeman
Genre: Documentary/Family
Runtime: 85mins
Rating: G
Stars: ★★★★

You don't expect on of your favourite movies of the summer to be the one that is starred by hundred of emperor penguins - but this is the case with March of the Penguins.

We watch as plump penguins make the march to their Antarctic breeding grounds 'where each and every one of them was born'. They are here to breed and they have prepared for this event for months in a column miles long crossing the packed ice. They arrive and start to choose a mate. This is not a casual fling - they are monomous at least for this season - and will find a new mate the next year.

The breed. One egg is produced. It needs to be passed from mother to father at some point in the cycle and this is the first risk - pass it incorrectly and the fertilised egg will be lost. Shortly after we see the Antarctic ice littered with the first batch of casualities in this well planned breeding cycle. While the mother goes looking for food - the father is left to incubate the egg in the harshest of conditions. The fathers shuffle around in a pack keeping each other warm with the occasional loss of eggs in the harsh winds and storms that an occur. While they mothers fill their stomachs in preparation to feed the young when they are hatched - an added danger lurks. They could be eaten by the seals who have been left with no penguins in the water for a long time. If they are - their child will die too - and quite possibly the father will perish because he is unable to sustain his long three months of starvation while he devotes his time to egg.

This is amazing to watch. The movie is the story of this annual cycle and filmed in quite unbelievable conditions by French director Luc Jacquet and his team. The scenery is ice, the subject is penguins - sounds easy enough - but the conditions were amazing and the beauty of the film is a testiment to his skill as a director.

The haunting tones of Morgan Freeman as our narrator give extra weight to the story which is full of heartache and wonder. Time to let the penguins into your heart.

IMDb