Product Description

Rolling Stone raved that Winged Migration, the critically acclaimed, awe-inspiring documentary, is"A movie miracle! It soars! You feel privileged!" Witness as five film crews follow a rich variety of bird migrations through 40 countries and each of the seven continents. With teams totalling more than 450 people, 17 pilots and 14 cinematographers used planes, gliders, helicopters and balloons to fly alongside, above, below and in front of their subjects. The result is a film of staggering beauty that Entertainment Weekly hailed as "Mesmerizing!" and the Los Angeles Times applauded as "Breathtaking! As lofty as it is exhilarating!" Open your eyes to the wonders of the natural world as you fly along with the world’s most gorgeous birds through areas.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3060 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2005-11-22
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 89 minutes

Amazon.com
For earthbound humans, Winged Migration is as close as any of us will get to sharing the sky with our fine feathered friends. It's as if French director Jacques Perrin and his international crew of dedicated filmmakers had been given a full-access pass by Mother Nature herself, with the complete "cooperation" of countless species of migrating birds, all answering to eons of migratory instinct. The film is utterly simple in purpose, with minimal narration and on-screen titles to identify the wondrous varieties of flying wildlife, but its visceral effect is humbling, awesome and magnificently profound. Technically, Perrin surpasses the achievement of his earlier film Microcosmos (which did for insects what this film does for birds), and apart from a few digital skyscapes for poetic effect, this astonishing film uses no special effects whatsoever, with soaring, seemingly miraculous camera work that blesses the viewer with, quite literally, a bird's-eye view. A brief but important hunting scene may upset sensitive viewers and children, but doesn't stop Winged Migration from being essential all-ages viewing. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
The French filmmaker Jacques Perrin shows us things we have never seen before: the alien world of insects in "Microcosmos" and, now, migrating birds in all their airborne glory. Perrin and his team of camera operators employ remote-control gliders and balloons to astonishing effect-the camera literally flies alongside the birds as they wing their way north and south in their search for food. They capture some amazing solo efforts, like the common murre who plunges off a ten-story seaside cliff, as well as the beauty of numbers, as in the scene of an entire flock of white-faced whistling ducks, all turning their heads at once. The images are mostly left alone, with minimal dialogue and endurable New Age music. Bird-lovers will be in heaven, and the less ornithologically inclined will be surprised to learn that some Canada geese don't hang around golf courses all winter. Among the more unforgettable birds on display is the Clark's grebe, which can pull off the cool trick of walking on water. -Michael Agger
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Profound nature study
Winged Migration is a moving and beautiful study of birds from all over the world and their journeys to their varied habitats. The musical score is most suitable and at times, very moving. I only wish more people would view this wonderful study of birds in flight.

Great
Who amongst us has not dreamt of flying under our own power? Despite a century of airplanes there is still nothing akin to winging off into the blue, crannying through small openings in trees, scaling sheer cliff faces. Never before has the idea of real bird-like flight been so perfectly expressed on film as it has in director Jacques Perrin's masterful documentary film Winged Migration. Naysayers have decried the film is not a documentary because many of the birds were raised from birth, then trained to obey humans, bonded to them for they were the 1st things the birds saw after birth, called imprinting), so they're not `really' wild animals. Another objection is that the film, on several occasions, intersperses computer graphics with the `authentic' documentary sequences.
These objections are bushwah- this film is 1 of the most unique & exhilarating pieces of film- documentary or not- ever made. It goes & we see them interact in ways never not just seen before, but not really imagined. Yet, despite how informative it is the film is really about how birds live, in an interior sense. Most people watching this film will have ideas that birds migrate, are sensitive to earth's electromagnetic fields, & acutely aware of the seemingly most trivial landmarks, but it's when the film focuses in on a species or flock that we realize that all the birds are individual. Unlike the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Birds, these creatures are not mindless automata. Because they are not as sophisticated as humans does not mean they do not possess a high degree of sophistication, & 1 might even argue bird culture. Mating dances, flight patterns, hunting routines, are all delineated in detail, & we see the travails & triumphs of groups, even as some individuals fall prey to death in its myriad forms- human hunters, industrial waste, other birds, & in a particularly chilling scene a bird with a broken wing who is pursued on a beach by a horde of voracious sand crabs.
Of course, being a documentary there is not a real plot, we just follow the different flocks through the course of a year. What intrigues is how the footage got so close to the birds? Some was taken while flying in ultra-light aircrafts, the noise of which the birds were made accustomed to while still in their eggs. Other footage was culled from hot air balloons & some from ground vehicles. Regardless of its provenance the visuals dazzle far more than any cyberworld can. Take your faraway worlds & galactic rides- give me this earth, this view, this way! Thankfully, there is very little narration- just enough to inform of a plight, but not enough to drone on irrelevantly.

Great Cinematography
9/12/08 Having started with "selections" (e.g. #21 "The Amazon"), I had an opportunity to see many bird species I'd not seen before..the DVD's Promotion Jacket of "Winged Migrations" was its selling point for me..I was a little disappointed, when viewing the DVD, that it differed so much from any other cinematography video, I've seen. I'm guessing that Perrin just had so many sights and sounds that he & crew wanted to present, especially for "seasoned bird watchers" ,that it was not possible to be "all things to all people".Narrations can truly enhance documentaries..however, "Winged Migration" does have "an extra",: an insert in with the DVD,listing the (1-24)scenes,giving the average uninformed bird watching viewer, a hint that it best be viewed via selections (e.g. #9[Bald Eagle]..#10[Canada Goose] vs "see it all at one time" really lengthy viewing of approx. 89 minutes ". 9/12/2008 abj