Description
Rolling Stone raved that Winged Migration, the critically acclaimed, awe-inspiring documentary, is"A movie miracle! It soars! You feel privileged!" Witness as five film crews follow a rich variety of bird migrations through 40 countries and each of the seven continents. With teams totalling more than 450 people, 17 pilots and 14 cinematographers used planes, gliders, helicopters and balloons to fly alongside, above, below and in front of their subjects. The result is a film of staggering beauty that Entertainment Weekly hailed as "Mesmerizing!" and the Los Angeles Times applauded as "Breathtaking! As lofty as it is exhilarating!" Open your eyes to the wonders of the natural world as you fly along with the world’s most gorgeous birds through areas.

Amazon.com
For earthbound humans, Winged Migration is as close as any of us will get to sharing the sky with our fine feathered friends. It's as if French director Jacques Perrin and his international crew of dedicated filmmakers had been given a full-access pass by Mother Nature herself, with the complete "cooperation" of countless species of migrating birds, all answering to eons of migratory instinct. The film is utterly simple in purpose, with minimal narration and on-screen titles to identify the wondrous varieties of flying wildlife, but its visceral effect is humbling, awesome and magnificently profound. Technically, Perrin surpasses the achievement of his earlier film Microcosmos (which did for insects what this film does for birds), and apart from a few digital skyscapes for poetic effect, this astonishing film uses no special effects whatsoever, with soaring, seemingly miraculous camera work that blesses the viewer with, quite literally, a bird's-eye view. A brief but important hunting scene may upset sensitive viewers and children, but doesn't stop Winged Migration from being essential all-ages viewing. --Jeff Shannon

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 301 reviews)

Profound nature study

Winged Migration is a moving and beautiful study of birds from all over the world and their journeys to their varied habitats. The musical score is most suitable and at times, very moving. I only wish more people would view this wonderful study of birds in flight.
October 25, 2008

Great

Who amongst us has not dreamt of flying under our own power? Despite a century of airplanes there is still nothing akin to winging off into the blue, crannying through small openings in trees, scaling sheer cliff faces. Never before has the idea of real bird-like flight been so perfectly expressed on film as it has in director Jacques Perrin's masterful documentary film Winged Migration. Naysayers have decried the film is not a documentary because many of the birds were raised from birth, then trained to obey humans, bonded to them for they were the 1st things the birds saw after birth, called imprinting), so they're not `really' wild animals. Another objection is that the film, on several occasions, intersperses computer graphics with the `authentic' documentary sequences.
These objections are bushwah- this film is 1 of the most unique & exhilarating pieces of film- documentary or not- ever made. It goes & we see them interact in ways never not just seen before, but not really imagined. Yet, despite how informative it is the film is really about how birds live, in an interior sense. Most people watching this film will have ideas that birds migrate, are sensitive to earth's electromagnetic fields, & acutely aware of the seemingly most trivial landmarks, but it's when the film focuses in on a species or flock that we realize that all the birds are individual. Unlike the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Birds, these creatures are not mindless automata. Because they are not as sophisticated as humans does not mean they do not possess a high degree of sophistication, & 1 might even argue bird culture. Mating dances, flight patterns, hunting routines, are all delineated in detail, & we see the travails & triumphs of groups, even as some individuals fall prey to death in its myriad forms- human hunters, industrial waste, other birds, & in a particularly chilling scene a bird with a broken wing who is pursued on a beach by a horde of voracious sand crabs.
Of course, being a documentary there is not a real plot, we just follow the different flocks through the course of a year. What intrigues is how the footage got so close to the birds? Some was taken while flying in ultra-light aircrafts, the noise of which the birds were made accustomed to while still in their eggs. Other footage was culled from hot air balloons & some from ground vehicles. Regardless of its provenance the visuals dazzle far more than any cyberworld can. Take your faraway worlds & galactic rides- give me this earth, this view, this way! Thankfully, there is very little narration- just enough to inform of a plight, but not enough to drone on irrelevantly.

September 24, 2008

Great Cinematography

9/12/08 Having started with "selections" (e.g. #21 "The Amazon"), I had an opportunity to see many bird species I'd not seen before..the DVD's Promotion Jacket of "Winged Migrations" was its selling point for me..I was a little disappointed, when viewing the DVD, that it differed so much from any other cinematography video, I've seen. I'm guessing that Perrin just had so many sights and sounds that he & crew wanted to present, especially for "seasoned bird watchers" ,that it was not possible to be "all things to all people".Narrations can truly enhance documentaries..however, "Winged Migration" does have "an extra",: an insert in with the DVD,listing the (1-24)scenes,giving the average uninformed bird watching viewer, a hint that it best be viewed via selections (e.g. #9[Bald Eagle]..#10[Canada Goose] vs "see it all at one time" really lengthy viewing of approx. 89 minutes ". 9/12/2008 abj
September 12, 2008

Amazing sights and beauty

This is a spectacular view of the beauty and strength of birds as they migrate from one area to another. The close-up shots of the birds and the extras showing how the birds were raised to be unafraid of the film crew and other humans was fantastic in its own right. This is a treat for the eyes and ears!
September 08, 2008

Beauty on the Wing

I wasn't sure what to expect of this film, recommended by a friend. It started slowly and at first I thought it was going to be slow and a low budget also ran. But it quickly got into its main theme, the migration of birds worldwide. Although the film hasn't got the power of some documentaries, the delight for me was the amazing filming. You are literally flying with the birds over the most stunning countryside, wing beat by wing beat. How this was done without the noise of helicopters or of planes flying alongside I don't know. But you can hear the whistle of wind and the sound of the wings beating the air.

So if being able to observe living creatures in this way awakes wonder in you, this is a film to watch.
August 16, 2008

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