I enjoy watching documentaries on subject of nature but felt disappointed about this movie. Especially after watching the `making of..' on DVD. I felt cheated, because most of film was heavily manipulated (images, sound, even the touchy little plots here and there) and staged that it really should not be in the documentary category (it was nominated for Oscar). Those birds are so well trained and they were not really migrating, they were just following the crews who raised them.
I have to admit that it is beautifully and uniquely filmed with the magnificent beauty of birds (mostly waterfowl only, because they are easy to raise and train) and the perfectly staged scenic backdrops. But almost all the people I have asked (and some of them are avid bird watchers) admitted that they lost interest about the movie halfway through for the very same reason repetitive! It's nice to look at, but easy to get tired of after a while because lack of substance.
Maybe the heavy manipulation of this project is the only way we, as human, will ever be able to experience what it must has been like from a bird's point of view. But still, I felt uneasy about making a documentary' this way to manipulate viewer's perspective from reality to such an extend. If they noted that nothing was computer enhanced or trick photography at the beginning of the film, why didn't they mention the facts of the trained birds and staged stories? If it were not DVD and the documentary' on making of this documentary', I would not know I was watching more a drama than a documentary film. That is disturbing.
I have to admit that it is beautifully and uniquely filmed with the magnificent beauty of birds (mostly waterfowl only, because they are easy to raise and train) and the perfectly staged scenic backdrops. But almost all the people I have asked (and some of them are avid bird watchers) admitted that they lost interest about the movie halfway through for the very same reason repetitive! It's nice to look at, but easy to get tired of after a while because lack of substance.
Maybe the heavy manipulation of this project is the only way we, as human, will ever be able to experience what it must has been like from a bird's point of view. But still, I felt uneasy about making a documentary' this way to manipulate viewer's perspective from reality to such an extend. If they noted that nothing was computer enhanced or trick photography at the beginning of the film, why didn't they mention the facts of the trained birds and staged stories? If it were not DVD and the documentary' on making of this documentary', I would not know I was watching more a drama than a documentary film. That is disturbing.