The Crimson Wing
The Crimson Wing is released on September 25th
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Thursday, 24, Sep 2009 04:07
Directed by Matthew Aeberhard and Leander Ward, out September 25th, starring the voice of Mariella Frostrup, running time 77 mins.
In a nutshell.
Beautiful but listless film from Disney's nature division.
What's it all about?
Once upon a time Disney made nature films - Academy award-winning ones, to be precise. During the 1950s the True-Life Adventures introduced the world to the land of the lions, before Disney turned its focus to the Pride Lands and Simba. Now they are back in the nature business again with a new specialist unit dedicated to natural history.
This first offering from Disneynature is aimed squarely at those who loved the surprise success documentary March of The Penguins. In this biopic of the odd but beautiful flamingo we follow the birds en route to their breeding ground at Lake Natron in Tanzania. Only a few inches deep, this harsh body of water is covered in red algae and islands of crusty salt.
The flamingos view this as their home after the rains. It offers a safe area to nest, give birth to, and then raise their rickety offspring. But as with every classic nature documentary, just around the corner there is a predator stalking. The hideous-looking Maribou stork targets the flightless newborns - can the vulnerable flamingos survive an attack from this fearsome predator?
Who's in it?
A film giant like Disney never does things by halves. The best talent for the task have been brought into this nascent film-making unit. Directors Matthew Aeberhard and Leander Ward are established cameramen within the nature doc genre. Both have over ten years experience of filming and specificially in East Africa. Aeberhard in particular has filmed for David Attenborough at the BBC as well as the National Geographic Channel.
Meanwhile the British voice of television presenter Mariella Frostrup is a surprise choice for the role of narrator.
As an example...
The producers of the film deliberately shied away from what they called the "fact-based, Attenborough, voice-of-God approach". Instead we are treated to semi-poetic statements about the flamingo. "Lightning bird, fire bird, phoenix!" proclaims a typically husky Frostrup at the close of the documentary.
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
Can lightening strike twice? With natural parallels being made with the 2005 Oscar-winning documentary March Of The Penguins, here is another bird documentary gunning for the top. In 2005 however the French producers had the surprise factor as well as a superbly edited narrative. And while nature documentaries rarely win the big prize, half a century ago Disney had form. One the last nature films they produced won the golden statue in 1960 - The Horse With The Flying Tail.
What the others say
"This one's a corker," exclaims Time Out magazine who praise the "exquisite cinematography" in a four star review. Empire awards the same marks for "a breathtakingly beautiful reflection on the fragile nature of life".
Not all reviewers are as fulsome in praise however - Radio Times wonders why "the filmmakers couldn't let the natural world speak for itself".
So is it any good?
It seems those penguins have a lot to answer for. The unexpected success in 2005 of an obscure nature documentary appears to have caused waves among the major studios. Disney reacted by starting an entire division dedicated to producing films about natural history. And what is immediately obvious is that their first film is also about birds. March of The Penguins? Here's 'Flight of The Flamingos' by any other name.
Flamingos are one of the stranger birds to be found on our planet, but they are also amazingly beautiful. And The Crimson Wing shows off their elegance in flight to full effect, with achingly pretty sunrises and desolate landscapes providing a perfect backdrop. Previous to this no crew had ever filmed in the salt flats, and it is rare these days for an audience to see something entirely fresh.
The real draw of this film is the remarkable story of these birds and their perilous life cycle in the only environment in which they can breed. Despite this being Disney, the camera does not shy away from this peril. Cute young flamingo chicks get caught in the marsh where balls of salt harden around their legs. Once immobilised thus, savage predators move in for the kill in some genuinely thrilling scenes.
The subtitle to this film is Mystery of the Flamingos and the word 'mystery' is no coincidence. The film is deliberately light in factual content in a break from the tradition of David Attenborough and his classic nature films. We are expected to be carried by the sheer beauty of the images, accompanied by a minimal voiceover that aims for the poetic at times.
And always falls short in what proves an unnecessary distraction. Mariella Frostrup's typically throaty narration is a bizarre choice for an otherwise serene film. "Every lake has its storybook witches," she purrs distractingly in one particularly tense scene which makes one long for Attenborough's sense of pause and timing. In breaking away from this standard Disney have made a film that is light on content, yet one which contains some of the richest visuals of the genre.
6/10
Marcus Dubois