March of the Penguins

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“The Simple Struggle of Survival” Aishah Ali “March of the Penguins” Star Rating: Luc Jacquet Wildlife Documentary Labelled as a love story in "the harshest place on earth," March of the Penguins is a documentary about the extraordinary yet excruciating voyage of Antarctica's oldest inhabitants, the emperor penguins, during their winter mating season. Director Luc Jacquet tracks a deadly course of life at the edge of the world, with exquisite footage of a hostile yet beautiful, environment that most of us will never visit. Birth, death, romance, danger: All play a role in Jacquet's admiration and respect to the remarkably endearing creatures. Morgan Freeman explains the journey that takes place each winter, when thousands of emperor penguins toss their bodies from their comfy, watery homes and waddle off single file, chattering , honking and flapping their wings, until they reach the breeding ground in a cruelly inhospitable part of the continent. That they have the strength to accomplish this act is astonishing — though many older penguins “simply fade away” in the process. Once they reach the breeding ground, a spot where the ice is thickest — the males and females randomly pair up: They hold their heads close to each other, lightly nuzzle each other with their beaks. They mate once, and if they did it right, a single egg follows. The mother briefly holds the egg on the tops of her feet, covering it with the warmth of her underbelly, before carefully passing it off to the father to protect in the same manner. Not all the eggs make it — and the parents “can only watch as the ice claims their egg and the life within it” which Jacquet depicts in a miserable fashion. Then the mother penguins trek back to the water to get food, while the fathers, holding their soon-to-be-born chicks, huddle
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