Independent Viewing Project – Post 1

March of the Penguins. Dir. Michel Fessler and Luc Jacques. By Luc Jacques. Perf. Morgan Freeman. Warner Bros., 2005. On Demand.

Originally titled La Marche de l’empereur, March of the Penguins is a nature movie that was released in 2005. The film was co-written by Michel Fessler and Luc Jacques; Jacques was also the director. While the French version was narrated by three voices as first-person insights to three penguins’ lives, the English version (the one I watched) was narrated by Morgan Freeman in third-person. Warner Bros. Studio distributed the film in America. The American film portrays one year of the life of a penguin, beginning with summer summer breeding when penguins above the age of five years old emerge from the Arctic waters to mate and hatch chicks. After laying the egg and passing it on to the father, the mother returns to the ocean to eat and catch fish to feed her chick once she returns to the father after winter ends and the egg hatches. This long march to and from the sea takes the whole winter, during which the fathers must survive the freezing climate and keep their eggs incubated. They huddle together for their egg’s and their own warmth until the mother returns. The movie concludes after the eggs hatch and all family members – mom, dad, and baby – return to the sea never to see each other again, as penguins are monogamous creatures who mate with a new partner each season.

There are several strategies the director used to make a seemingly simple and boring story of penguins impacting, interesting, and meaningful to viewers. The first is implemented by Morgan Freeman. The tone of voice Freeman uses to narrate the story reflects the mood of the scene; when Freeman introduces the film, his voice sounds wise and all-knowing, which, coupled with the majestic imagery of huge glaciers and snowy sunsets, eases the reader into the story and adds a feeling of importance and authority. The pictures enhance whatever Freeman is saying in the scene; for example, in the beginning of the film, Freeman speaks of the penguins’ purpose to mate and create “new life” just as a clip of a gorgeous sunrise pans over the television screen. Sunrises and babies both symbolize proliferation and the purpose of biology in general, and by matching them together, the director adds importance to the penguins’ lives and, therefore, to the film. This is also an example of the skillful use of diction throughout the film. Creating “new life” has much more positive and joyful connotations than a phrase like, “hatch offspring”. This euphemism is repeated throughout the film; Freeman refers to a mother penguin who is about to die of starvation and cold on her walk back to the sea by stating that “some fall asleep and disappear,” as a natural part of the circle of life that viewers must accept. This also adds to the beauty and importance of penguins’ lives. Freeman’s soothing, all-knowing voice states broad ideas that not only make penguins’ lives seem more important and beautiful to readers but also allows the film to move forward in time; in order to cover a year in an hour and a half, the film must skip through the seasons. Using general statements subliminally signals to the viewer that time is passing without rushing and destroying the mood. Background music also helps establish the mood of certain scenes. When a predator approaches an egg, suspenseful and stressful music plays. When chicks play and chirp, joyful, silly music can be heard.