Cogito ergo scribo

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贝 and i made full use of our annual leave today by watching the documentary La Marche de l'empereur (March of the Penguins) directed by Luc Jacquet. I'm not sure if the one that is showing in the cinemas now is the English version, but the one we watched was the original French version (downloaded from BT), and i had absolutely no idea what the narrators were talking about (thank goodness there was Chinese subtitle). Understand that it was a box office hit in the US and Europe, and the critics' reviews were excellent. Seriously, i don't really think that this movie is THAT great; the most i may give it is a B+. I would, however, recommend it if you happen to love the comical birds, with the waddling and the little tuxedos and all.

This movie documents the remarkable journey of the emperor penguins in traveling through the most inhospitable terrain on Earth to reproduce. The film shows how the penguins waddle, swim, waddle, eat, waddle, get buffeted by blizzards, waddle, flirt, waddle, procreate, waddle, hatch eggs, waddle, watch their chicks confront the perils of starvation and of attack birds, waddle, face death from leopard seals, waddle, find love against all odds.* The French version has the narrators expressing the thoughts of the penguins, namely a male, a female, and a baby penguin. The expansive photography was breathtaking and left me in awe of how the director could have captured some of the footage. In the advertisement, it was said that the crew spent 13 months in the Antarctica to film this documentary.

Here are some of the things that i've learnt about the emperor penguins after watching the documentary:

• The emperor penguins would travel from the ocean to a breeding ground to proceate. Seeing the penguins' overpowering urge to reproduce and to assure the survival of the species, i really wonder if my decision of not to bear any offspring is against the animal instinct.
  


• The emperor penguins not only swim and waddle, they also slide on their bellies to move on the ice.
  


• They have the ability to regulate the body heat by two different internal temperature levels and this helps them to withstand the extreme conditions.
  


• The breeding pair of emperor penguins are monogamous for the entire breeding season.
  
  
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• The females lay only a single egg for the breeding season and would then return to the ocean for food.
  


• The male would incubate the egg in its brood pouch for more than 3 months without food.
  


• The egg must be cradled at all time without touching the ground. If the egg is exposed for more than a few seconds, the intense cold will destroy it.
  


• The emperor penguins have great ability in discerning sound. They can recognize the mates and parents through the sound when all other penguins are also making noises at the same time.
  


• To make themselves warm, they would huddle against each other and form a very dense group with only their backs exposed to the blizzard.
  


• The penguins do not lie down and sleep. They sleep standing up.
  


• They would feel sad too when the young dies; some may even go crazy and try to snatch the babies of others.
  


• Emperor penguins are so cute when they are babies but look kinda ugly after grown up.
  
  
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If you are an animal lover and don't mind spending 80min+ of your time to know a bit more about this resilient creature, this is definitely the film to watch.