March of the Penguins

This was on display in one of the bookstores along George Street.  It reminded me of a movie we'd seen several years back and a kidbit I had written about it.   

Movie Preview : March of the Penguins -- 01 October 2005

I got to watch March of the Penguins last night. It was a beautiful movie about the mating rituals of the emperor penguin. The cast had no stars except for the penguins. Morgan Freeman's was the only voice. The scenery was almost purely that of snow and ice. But I really enjoyed watching it. Half the fun of watching this movie was seeing it with RD.

When RD joined me, he saw penguins marching in single file across the vast expanse of ice. There were no people on screen, there seemed to be no dialogue and there was no action. He sat himself beside me, put his hand under his chin and said, "Boy, this is a BORING movie!"

After a while, maybe to make up for the lack of conversation in the movie, he engaged in small talk. "Mom? Where do you think this was taken? The North Pole? Oh, no, not the North Pole, because Santa Claus is there. In the South Pole. It must be in the South Pole.

As the movie relayed, the penguins mate and the mother lays an egg. This takes two months. When RD heard this, he looked at me and said, "For people it takes nine months, right? Does this mean that nine months before, the mom and dad know that they'll have a baby?"

After the mother lays her egg, the egg is passed on to the father, who stays and protects the egg. The mother goes back to the sea to eat because thus far she would have lost 1/3 of her weight. By the time she returns, the egg will have hatched. The baby penguin will transfer from father to mother. The mother will care for the baby penguin as the father journeys to the sea to take his turn for food. Morgan Freeman relayed time frames for these various phases. Somewhere during this part of the movie, RD did some mental calculations and informed me, "For people, if they start in January, by September, they'll be done already."

Finally, the movie showed the harsh realities of survival of the fittest. They showed scenes where the eggs froze, where a seal ate the mother penguin, baby penguins almost eaten by predator birds, and worst, baby penguins that died of the cold. RD told me repeatedly, "I don't think (Grand)Mother would like to watch this movie. It's too sad for her."

By and large, RD enjoyed the movie. It wasn't as boring as he had originally thought. He found it interesting and amazing, but most of all, sad.

The display also reminded me of Mindy.  Why?  Perhaps it was because she was fond of another familiar penguin.