by Robert Alstead

What is it about March of the Penguins? The film, which opened quietly in late June in the States on just four screens, has become the second most successful documentary of all time, after Fahrenheit 9/11. The emperors have waddled their way to a staggering $100 million in ticket sales worldwide, and they’re still marching in cinemas. Industry insiders have been gobsmacked. “A movie about birds… and they don’t even fly!” was one comment I overheard at VIFF last month. But the life cycle of those birds in the Antarctic’s frozen wastelands has all the ingredients of a great drama: survival, tragedy, comedy, new life, rites of passage, and death. The narrative, which Morgan Freeman apparently recorded in one day, may over-project human traits onto the penguins, but only the hardest of hearts would not soften at the tender moments of courtship, or when witnessing the epic struggle that mother and father emperors must face in bringing their downy chicks into the world.
There’s no doubt that the film’s success is also attributable to its upbeat tone and happy ending. The filmmakers stick to the simple story of penguins surviving in nature. Yet, while there’s no mention of man’s impact on the penguins’ icy home, the film leaves no doubt about the fragility of their existence. Do a little research after the film, and you’ll find that penguin populations have declined in the past due to climate change, and that emperor penguins have lost as much as half their population as their habitat warms up. Would the film have done so well if it had tackled the subject of climate change as well? It’s unlikely, and that’s a shame. Generations of us would never have been so intimately aware of the emperors of Antarctica, or care about the survival of their species. The March of the Penguins DVD will be released on November 29. Included in the extras is a documentary about how director Luc Jacquet made the film.
With the municipal election on November 19, Work Less Party’s mayoral candidate Ben West is reaching out to potential supporters with an activist-style documentary entitled Alarm Clocks Kill Dreams. Partly incorporating West’s campaign diary during the recent provincial election, the film also outlines the party’s campaign for a shorter workweek. (The party’s slogan is “Work less, consume less, live more.”) The early edit I saw was rough around the edges, but what it lacks in finesse, it makes up with fun and humour. (Alarm Clocks plays November 10, 7 pm, VanEast Cinema.)
We’re now getting into the winter blockbuster season. With the anticipated release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on November 18, Pottermania is taking hold. For more thought-provoking fare, check out George Clooney’s Good Night and Good Luck. This is his second film as director. Shot in spare black and white, the film recreates the dramatic battle between CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow (portrayed by the brilliant David Strathairn) and the late senator Joseph McCarthy (playing himself in vintage news clips). A great cast, including George Clooney, Jeff Daniels, Robert Downey Jr., Patricia Clarkson, and Ray Wise, captures a golden moment in US broadcasting history. Instead of folding to pressure, the pugnacious journalist’s televised standoff precipitated the end of McCarthy’s notorious, communist witch-hunt. Although the film is set in the nicotine-stained ‘50s, comparisons with today’s toothless media, particularly south of the border, are all too obvious.
Super Size Me showed that there is a healthy appetite for documentaries about food. The Future of Food (opens 18th, 5th Avenue), made by Deborah Koons Garcia, serves up some unpalatable facts about unlabelled, GM food to rave reviews south of the border. The doc features Canadian food hero Percy Schmeiser and his old friend Monsanto, the world’s largest producer of GMOs. If you think all’s well on the farm, then you should get down to the cinema or www.futureoffood.com. 2005 expected gross sales for Monsanto: $7 B.
Robert Greenwald follows up his searing critique of Fox News Channel Outfoxed with a new documentary looking at Wal-mart’s practices in Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (www.walmartmovie.com). Two screenings are scheduled as part of a COPE fundraiser (Nov 13, Vancouver International Film Centre).

Robert Alstead, who also writes for iofilm, is currently making a documentary about cycling called You Never Bike Alone.