I've
learned that when a crowd of people listen to a presentation or watch a
film, they don't hear and see the same thing. Everything is filtered
through the 'frames' of their worldview, what they understand to be
true and believe to be right.
When March of the Penguins came to
local theatres, I didn't go. I knew I wouldn't be able to bear it. On
Friday night it premiered on the Canadian movie channel. I watched, as
best as I could, spending most of it in tears and at times turning
away, unable to look.
The movie critics, for the most part, saw
it as just a documentary, and while being unwilling to criticize it
overall (the cinematography is stunning, and the script is factual and
non-moralizing -- this is just a simple true story, after all), some of
them were annoyed at the 'anthropomorphizing' -- the mere suggestion
that non-human creatures can actually think and feel, and aren't doing
what they do 'automatically'. I don't know what planet such people live
on, but then there are still some people who believe global warming
isn't man-made, or even that it is not occurring at all. Hell, there
are still some people who believe the world is only a few thousand
years old and will soon be 'saved' by a big funny-looking guy in a
beard.
Having read the positive but underwhelming critical
reviews, I learned as well that conservatives 'saw' the film as a
reaffirmation of their values -- monogamy, heterosexuality, family
above all. As Paul Simon said "A man hears what he wants to hear and
disregards the rest".
Those of you who 'know' me will know that what I saw in this film was:
- Evidence
of the astonishing joy, sensitivity, love, acceptance, appreciation,
wisdom, courage and resilience that permeates all life on Earth: These
creatures know the real
meaning and value of life and how to live more richly and sustainably,
and hence better, than we humans have in millennia; and
- Realization
of the staggering beauty, wonder and precious value of what we humans
are now thoughtlessly and recklessly destroying.
Penguins have been living the same way of life depicted in this film for fifty million years,
nearly twenty times as long as our species has been on Earth. They are
part of the astonishing diversity and complexity of life that has
emerged to be perfect for this strange, vulnerable and hostile planet,
to keep it in Sacred Balance. And thanks to our species, this will all
be gone in one hundred years or so. All gone, destroyed, extinguished
forever. All because we humans, we arrogant monsters, believe that our
'right' to breed 6, or 9, or 14 billion rapacious, destructive,
thoughtless, unconscious members of our own species trumps the 'right'
of every other creature on this planet to exist.
In nature there
are no 'rights' -- this is an abstract, human concept, invented to
prevent our stressed out, mentally ill, massively excessive numbers
from killing each other arbitrarily, and giving us an excuse to
exterminate other species and claim 'personal' 'ownership' of their, of
our collective Earth.
In nature there are only responsibilities.
That is the unbearable truth of March of the Penguins. That is why I
cried all the way through it, why I had to turn away at the gentle,
noble lessons that these wondrous, gorgeous creatures show us, try to
teach us, with every move, every glance, everything they do.
But
we cannot hear them any more. Our human 'frames' no longer countenance
such truths. It is all too late. This film is not merely a celebration
of life in a place of terrible beauty. It is an early memorial to the
unbearable truth of what our horrifically irresponsible and insensitive
species will soon have extinguished. |
MADE IN CANADA
trust your
instincts 
