MOVIE REVIEW: EARTH

EARTH

Six of Seven Cows

There’s irony in the release of Earth and Star Trek  on the same weekend. While one looks beyond our world suggesting that all here has been explored and all mysteries uncovered, the other is a majestic, miraculous rebuke of that notion. Earth is a must-see for anyone who’s intent on calling this blue ball home, and for those with children it’s nearly mandatory.

            

 It’s so easy to become cynical about movies. There’s so little that is good, and even less that is new. True artistry is exceedingly rare, and that which exists is seldom put to good use. I’m certain many of the pioneers of film would be heartbroken to see the base purposes to which the medium is usually lent. But occasionally a beauty like Earth reminds us that film can be more than entertainment, that it can be, well, enlightening.

            

 Borrowing heavily from the BBC and Discovery Channel series Planet Earth, what had been a glorious small-screen achievement finally brings all the beauty, humor, and tragedy of our planet to the big screen. Narrated by James Earl Jones, Earth follows a polar bear family through the arctic, a mother whale and calf to Antarctica, and an elephant herd in search of water. There is triumph in each of these stories, as well as drama, suspense and tragedy. But most of all there is beauty.

             

Having seen the Planet Earth series on DVD, as well as the accompanying behind-the-scenes documentaries on it’s making, I have some idea of how the amazing images in this film were captured. It’s difficult to not be awed by the dedication of the film crews, not to mention their sheer tolerance for tedium. Still, that awe is dwarfed by that experienced while watching a great white shark burst from the ocean with an unlucky seal caught in its monstrous maw, or the comedy of a bird of paradise come-a-courtin’.

             

If I have any complaint it’s that the narrative suffers a bit from Disney-itus: The animals are humanized and treated as characters to a vaguely-silly extent, and most of the rough edges of life in the wild are smoothed out for the kiddies. What tragedy is allowed to make it to the screen is largely blamed on a warming planet, and the film’s release in conjunction with Earth Day makes it’s agenda clear. I’ve decided to overlook that.

             

While Star Trek may get all the hype this week, Earth proves that there’s still plenty to keep us spellbound right here at home. I give Earth six non-flatulent cows.