Winged Migration (2001)

• Year: 2001
• Released: 29 Aug 2003
• Country: France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy
• Adwords: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 5 wins & 16 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301727/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/winged_migration
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English, French
• MPA Rating: G
• Genre: Documentary
• Runtime: 89 min
• Writer: Jacques Perrin, Stéphane Durand, Jean Dorst
• Director: Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud, Michel Debats
• Cast: Jacques Perrin, Philippe Labro
• Keywords: ocean, lake, horse, parrot, ornithology, flight,

	7.9/10
	82/100
	95% – Critics
	87% – Audience

Winged Migration Storyline

This beautiful film is not what it appears. It is a combination of fiction and documentary–documentary where wild birds were filmed, but staged where the feathered actors appear. And all was storyboarded and scheduled as best as could be managed during the four years of work it took to film it. The real story behind the film and the “people” of the French title “Le Peuple Migrateur” is told by the documentary “The Making of” that appears on the DVD. The humans are unseen in the film but fly with the actors they hand-raised from eggs and imprinted on themselves and their machines so they would stay with the people and follow directions (“Allez! Allez!”). The producer, who narrates the commentary on the DVD, describes the planning and making of this film as the fulfillment of a “dream,” a dream to fly with the birds. This film gives hints of the extraordinary lengths to which this dream took its dreamers only in the seemingly impossible shots in which the viewer is at eye level with high-flying birds. Otherwise–except for the almost obviously staged plot elements where birds land in particular places in which they interact with machinery, vehicles, and people who do not speak–it appears to be a nature documentary, which it partly is.

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Winged Migration Movie Reviews

A film of transcendent beauty

A film that’s difficult to classify: part nature film, part documentary, part drama. And *completely* beautiful. The makers of this film used every imaginable flying and suspending machine in order to film birds wherever they went. From ultra-light planes to hot air balloons, to hang gliders the camera operators managed to capture what must be the most amazing shots of flying ever filmed. The crew travelled the world to follow birds in migration (and some in their native habitat).

My kids (ages 11 to 15) were transfixed.

To those who say this film lacks “action”, I can only express my deep regret that they are so earth-bound as to be unable to let go and soar with some of nature’s most wonderful creatures.

Amazing Photography Should Awe About Everyone Who Sees This

Here is a beautifully-filmed documentary on the migration of birds. This movie took four years to make, and one can see why. You cannot get much closer, I would think, to the flying birds than what you see here. Cameras were literally attached to some of the birds so you, the viewer, are up there in the sky right with these (mainly) geese as they migrant thousands of miles.

The colors are beautiful and the sound is good. However, be warned there is no dialog so it can be tough viewing the whole 90 minutes in one sitting. Also, I found the best and most interesting footage at the beginning.

Nevertheless, this is a good addition to anyone’s collection if or no other reason than the magnificent photography and the effort filmmakers put out to make this wildlife documentary. It also is interesting how they show different species every few minutes, where they go each year, how many miles they travel, the exact route, etc. Wildlife and bird-lovers in particular, should love this film.

The Birds, Revisited.

When documentaries fail to show humans and human events it’s almost enough to put the audience to sleep by default (except of course, those who get excited at the mere suggestion of shows like “Nova” or educational programmes sponsored by the Mutual of Omaha).

WINGED MIGRATION doesn’t essentially need or looks to inform us what we probably know already: that birds migrate, and in doing so, ensure their own species. But what it does show us is a continuous yet striking montage of birds of different species flying among oceans, mountains, skies, land… we see them through their points of view, while throughout there is the barest suggestion of a plot here and there as inevitably one bird either gets lost in flight, lands in a ship, gets caught in toxic waste (of which it may not escape alive as the others, obeying that instinctual law of moving on, depart), gets disoriented and injured and becomes food for hungry crabs, or even captured by humans to become pets. Beautiful, sometimes moving images that shows us a quiet cycle of life, death, and reproduction, which will stay with the viewer long after the credits have rolled.