Earth (2007)

Earth the feature film came out in 2007, but I just watched the DVD over the weekend. I was immediately struck by the photography, which is nothing short of remarkable. Each landscape and habitat is shown in glorious HD, and you really need to see it on an HD television in order to get the most from it. Watch it on a standard television set and you'd really be missing out. 

I only regret not seeing this in the cinemas when it first came out, but I'm guessing Indonesian cinemas would never show anything of this much value in any case. 

The documentary itself is divided into life stories which focus on certain species and their hunt for food or water. It's very similar to the National Geographic "Great Migrations" which came out recently, and which I'll also be reviewing shortly. In that, I mean it shows at least a great journey carried out by a few select species and their hardships along the way. 

We see an adult polar bear on the search for seals, desperately venturing onto the sea ice in a race against time before the ice thaws. This window of opportunity is getting smaller and smaller each year as the ice caps melt earlier and global temperatures rise. A herd of elephants are also shown making their annual migration towards the Okavango delta on the trek for water. Again we are reminded of desertification, deforestation and the fact that these crucial waters are beset on their route by human extraction for a variety of uses, but primarily farmland irrigation. 

A humpback whale and her calf make the journey southwards on the hunt for krill and along the way we are treated to a variety of dazzling oceanic spectacles which really bedazzle you with their glorious HD imagery. However, there is the constant reminder of climate change as these creatures are dependent of course on krill which are in turn dependent on ice.

It really is a fascinating documentary and cannot be faulted. I highly recommend anyone to watch it and I have since shown it to one of my classes. Despite their usual indifference towards any subject matter that doesn't involve hollywood celebrities or handheld gadgets it met with a favourable reception. I think the message of the film hit home, and they as I shared the somewhat pessimistic opinion that it won't be long before the species we see here are a myth which we will pass on to our grandchildren but will eventually be forgotten. 

And so it is that this fantastic documentary is overshadowed by sadness. Sadness at being almost certain of the fate that awaits these glorious creatures unless we do something about it, and fast. You can get involved and the film urges us to in it's closing credits. Visit Life Is to find out more.