March of the Penguins

The love story of the year may be a doco about penguins yet it has managed to stir up controversy in the US. The film traces a year in the life of emperor penguins that live and breed in the most hostile place on earth – Antarctica.

While their summer months are spent eating, playing and enjoying the warmer water their winters are bleak and dangerous. It is in the winter that the adult Emperor Penguins trek across the ice deserts to their mating ground. The journey itself takes some days but compared to what will be required in the coming months this trip is nothing.

After the penguins find a mate and the female lays an egg the parents must perform a delicate dance passing the fragile egg from the mother to the father. The egg needs to be carefully transferred onto the father’s feet where he can keep it warm – if it falls onto the ice the life inside dies within moments.

After a successful transfer the mothers return to the sea to eat. It has been 40 days since they have eaten but it will be another 60 days before the fathers have an opportunity to eat. For about two months the fathers must warm the eggs, moving carefully to stay alive, huddling together to keep warm in the midst of blizzards and temperatures below 50 degrees Celsius. During these months the chicks will hatch and father and child must wait for the mother’s return from the sea.

With a shoot that lasted over a year, March of the Penguins is a staggering feat. The two cameramen, Jérôme Maison and Laurent Chalet, did not leave the region for twelve months as they lived, observed and filmed in the freezing weather.

As remarkable as the film is, it is the penguins that are indeed amazing. Resolute, patient and longsuffering these creatures set much aside for the sake of their young. You could call this drive instinct but the filmmakers prefer to call it love.

While receiving numerous accolades, critical success and an Oscar for the Best Documentary, the reception of March of the Penguins has been met with a little debate. Some American reviewers have argued that the film proves Intelligent Design; how could such tenacious and astonishing behaviour be the work of chance? Being unschooled in the details of Intelligent Design I will however say this, this marvellous documentary is hard to watch without considering the wonder of creation and the work of a creative and relational God. 

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