Reviewed by Tom Atkinson
Narrated by Zabou Breitman
Written by Melanie Finn
Produced by Matthew Aeberhard, Kim Ballard, Melanie Finn,
Stephen Garrett, Leander Ward & Paul Webster
Certification UK PG | US G
Runtime 75 minutes
Directed by Matthew Aeberhard & Leander Ward
When March of the Penguins, a big screen nature documentary that cost just $3 million to make, raked in $127 million at the global box office in 2005, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood decided wildlife was the next big business opportunity.
Well, business couldn't be much bigger than Disney, and last year Mickey's magical cohorts decided to launch Disneynature, their own specialist branch to produce Disney nature docs for the big screen for the first time since the 1950s. Their debut effort was a film version of the BBC series Planet Earth for release in the US, but their first original feature returns to the territory made popular by March of the Penguins-birds.
The Crimson Wing follows the life cycle of 1.5 million east African lesser flamingoes as they come to northern Tanzania's spectacular Lake Natron to breed and guide their newly-hatched young into adult life. Co-directors Matt Aberhard and Leander Ward spent around 15 months on location at the lake and they really have captured some breathtaking images, from the lightning-struck arrival of the huge flock to the incredibly close-up hatching of chicks on the inhospitable, salt encrusted lake. The gorgeous imagery is soundtracked by a score from The Cinematic Orchestra, and it makes a welcome change to see a wildlife film without hearing Sigur Ros tacked on the back without a thought.
Admittedly, the soaring, string-fed music isn't a great departure from the kind of music BBC wildlife fans will be used to, but The Cinematic Orchestra's Jason Swinscoe did spend time at Lake Natron before composing the score, and it certainly shows as the music is a strong, and welcome, element of the film. What may not be quite so welcome is the film's narration. The script is sparse, allowing the action to largely explain itself, and letting viewers follow the animals almost like characters in a conventional film.
However, this is such an alien world to us as viewers that some explanation is necessary and the narration falls between feeding us the few facts we need and creating a background of faux-mysticism for the scenes of natural fact. Frankly, it doesn't really work, but while this attempt to add a touch of magic and mystery may be a result of the Disneyfication of nature, it doesn't spoil the film too much. There's no other attempt to sugar- coat the lives of the flamingoes though, and the film isn't shy of showing the cruel reality of a young chick's life with the scenes of the baby birds being hunted by huge maribou storks and hyenas some of the very best.
This is the strength of the film- the sheer beauty of the images- and there's so much going on here that Lake Natron, rather than the birds, is the real star of the show, offering true escapism to another world with the soundtrack to take you there, for an enjoyable 75 minutes.