True to my word, I caught this movie. Sunday night at 9:35, the day before school starts again for the K-12 school folk. It was a perfect tactic, there were only seven people in the theatre and no whining or screaming. Since the distribution seems to have only gotten wider rather than petering out, even the small theatres around me have tons of showings.
This movie was actually produced by National Geographic; that they released this movie to the silver screen circuit speaks volumes about its quality. I've seen hundreds of animal documentaries, and this is the best of them all. Not best because it's strikingly different from other films of its type, because it isn't - the format of following a group of animals around a calendar year is bog standard and exactly like every other NG documentary. But March of the Penguins stands apart because it has a real soul. The penguins are truly expressive, and the pains that they endure to produce their offspring are vivid and poignant. Even the sounds they make are unforgettable; I had never heard a penguin before, but now I don't think I'll ever be able to forget what they sound like. The haunting calls and cries of the birds added a lot to the impact this film had on me.
Can't really write more than that because I sorely need to get to bed, but I don't go to a theater to see a movie unless I have a really good reason to. I might not see a movie for 3-4 years at a time... I'm glad I saw this one. Now that I've seen it, I know for sure I wouldn't have wanted to miss out.
