Winged Migration (Le Peuple migrateur) (Directors: Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud, France, 2001): This is less a documentary than a visual poem about the beauty of flight. The film follows several species of migratory birds (ducks, geese, cranes, swans) on their flights and the experience is one of actually flying with the birds. It’s quite amazing, but would be more powerful as an IMAX film. If you have a big TV, rent it right away. Otherwise, wait for it to be on a large screen near you.
I also watched the “making-of” documentary (at 53 minutes, it’s almost as long as the 90 minute feature), and it kind of wrecks the illusion to find out that the birds are more akin to actors in a film than subjects in a documentary. That’s all I’ll say.
(8/10)