A March to Remember

I'm not into the habit of watching documentaries, and if I do, I'm mostly hooked to the ones on safety/disaster/technology. I'd given up on animal documentaries quite a while back. I vividly remember watching the mircat and his unending search for something to survive on. His stomach's been empty for a week, time's running out. His eyes sweeps the desert, his stomach rumbling. And then they show him poking his head up, which means he's found something. My heart leaps with joy, finally he's not going to die on this documentary.

And then they show why his heart leapt with joy too, it was a female mircat. Instinct takes over and my sympathy churns into disgust in no time. To add insult to injury, the copulation is shown in detail. Never again I said, never will I venture into documentaries of the animal kingdom. Well, I'm puzzled at my own narrow mindedness at times.

Until I downloaded March of the Penguins.



It's an account of the perilous life of the Emperor Penguin. Larome and Jarome, are the two brothers who film the ritual which the penguins have undertaken since time immemorial. The ritual is the essence of the documentary, it's their fight against nature for their own future. We come to know that both father and mother almost end up killing themselves for the sake of their offspring. It begins in september, when it's summer, when they magically march around seventy miles inland for breeding. The march is spectacular in itself, all of them march in one line, kind of like a school parade. It takes a good two months until an egg is laid, and then it's time for nature to play the devil. It's also when the couple separate, the mother takes a trip back to the sea for feeding herself. The sun sets permanently for the harsh winter to set in. Icy cold winds in excess of 150 mph threatens the very survival of the egg, placed in between the fathers feet.

It goes on for four months. Meanwhile, the male penguin loses fifty percent of his weight. By this time many males as well as their eggs have succumbed to darwins theory. Finally the eggs hatch, the newborn are hungry and await their mothers who should return with a belly full of food. The harsh winter have also taken the lives of their mothers and the chicks prepare for yet another fight for survival. Eventually their mothers come and it's the turn of their fathers to fill their empty stomachs. Many perish on the trip back, it's been over 5 months with no food.

And then we come to the conclusion of this amazing documentary, they return for a final get together - a picture perfect mother, father and child, seldom seen anywhere in the animal kingdom. Almost immediately, it's time for them to part, they've fought the worst. The 'kids' look on into the horizon, as their apathetic parents leave them with a newfound sense of freedom. And so they get ready for the great march.

Their march for survival.

This ritual is one that has no chance of getting back on track, should there be a single problem. It's akin to an engine, a single mistake brings the machine to a halt. No wonder this documentary won an Oscar. The photography is absolutely breathtaking, never has the south pole looked so beautiful with a thousand penguins in the backdrop. The haunting background score, the brilliant narrative by Morgan Freeman... makes this one unforgettable documentary.

Unconditional love and sacrifice, it still exists in places you'd never believe it would.