March of the Penguins

I caught this movie this afternoon with Brian and Jenn upoon the recommendation from Nicole. First, it's a visually stunning documentary. It's pretty amazing that the director was able to capture life in Antarctica over 12-13 months. It's one of the coldest places on earth, yet it still such a beautiful land. Narrated by Morgan Freeman, the film shows the journey of emperor penguins from the sea to the innermost land, to mate, hatch an egg and nurtue/raise their chicks. The director tries to portray it as a love story, but I think it's just about survival. It's crazy what these birds have to go through--blizzards, wind, -50C weather, starvation, predators, etc. It's incredible the number of things that have to go right just for them to make it--it was sad to see how some of the baby chicks died. My only minor beef about the movie was that it had very little scientific information/background. I guess they wanted to keep the it as family-friendly as possible. Still, a very enjoyable movie watch. Highly recommended.