March of the Penguins [DVD] [2005] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Narrated with customary preternatural calm by Morgan Freeman, this short, simple, and gorgeously photographed film follows the birds as they undertake a 70-mile trek from the sea and the source of the food to their breeding grounds, where they must find a mate, lay the egg, somehow keeping it warm against the brutal conditions, march back to an ice break to get food, hike back to the breeding grounds to feed the little ones, and fend off predators and the elements in the process.

It's all a race against time to become organized and get the egg, and later the baby, sheltered from the terrible winter snowstorms that come sweeping over the land. Some of the eggs are exposed to the elements and don't make it, and some females never make it back, dooming the chicks. But the beauty of this movie is that it never shies away from the painful realities of living in this harsh natural world.

Penguins make consummate, gender-emancipated parents, with mothers making the first slog, the 70 miles back and forth from the sea to forage for food, while the fathers huddle for warmth and guard the eggs. They are monogamous, for at least time it takes to take care of the chick, with their lovemaking, both lyrical and touching. Their grief when an egg or a baby dies almost unbearable, and one bereft mother's ill-fated attempt to steal a chick from another is absolutely heart trenching.

Nature plays both devil and angel in the doggedly instinctual lives of these beautiful animals, and it's a world where divorce is never an option, at least until the chicks are self sufficient and can finally go their own way. Complete with a haunting and symphonic musical score, Luc Jacquet's film is an amazing journey of resilience and hope. Penguins have been captured on camera before, but never with quite the depth and surreal beauty that Jacquet manages to capture here.

The film may concentrate on the routines of survival on ice, producing an egg, keeping that egg warm until it hatches, keeping baby alive until it is capable of fending for itself (there is an enormous death toll), but it also follows the penguins into the sea. Unable to fly, once in the water they take flight. Water really is their element. But, with no predator on land (or ice) except the temperature and weather, at sea they are hunted, and life becomes a life and death struggle for survival.

A massive box office hit, ''March of the Penguins" is a French documentary which has attracted considerable critical acclaim. It's original French soundtrack can be a bit twee in places in the way it gives the birds a voice, but the American, English language version casts Morgan Freeman in the role of narrator. Now Freeman has a lovely voice - warm, avuncular, yet with just a hint of gravitas. Unfortunately, the narration at times does tend to sound like "The Shawshank Redemption" - a brilliant film in its own right, but the voice-over here can be a touch sentimental … overwhelmingly so at times.

The visual imagery, the sheer visual genius of the film is extraordinary, and often commentary enough. It literally features a cast of thousands, every one of them typecast as a loveable little character. And, let's face it, penguins are about as loveable as they come.

If you like nature photography, if you love penguins, this is a must-watch film which, despite the voice over, will keep you entertained and amazed for hours. And maybe, just maybe, it'll waken up a few more people to the threat of global warming - somebody needs to ensure that George Bush sees this and recognises that the world we have needs protecting!