| Science Documentary at the Cinema |
| Saturday, 10 February 2007 | |
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Until recently, science seemed to occupy a rather sober and well-defined place in television, in the genre of science documentaries. Although fictional films have occasionally drawn inspiration from science, for the most part they have avoided it as a main topic. However, a recent boom in featurelength science documentaries intended for the big-screen has catapulted science into a somewhat different domain of popular interest, one that blends emotional narrative with scientific investigation. The two main examples of this phenomenon, March of the Penguins and The Besieged Fortress, may leave some viewers wondering whether this cinematic popularization of science comes at the cost of sacrificing scientific rigour. For a long time mainstream cinema was devoid of science films. The short science films of Jean Painlevé, shown as preludes to artistic feature films in French cinemas as early as the mid-twentieth century, were the exception rather than the rule. On some occasions, artistic films crossed paths with science. For example, in Illumination (Illuminacja 1972), by the Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi, the film’s cinéma vérité style seems to open up the scientist’s inner world and examine anew the social impact of science. In this film one scene depicts young physicists discussing the dangers of scientific inventions such as atomic bombs and genetic engineering, and brushing off any personal responsibility in the name of pragmatic concerns such as supporting their families. Science documentaries have often successfully penetrated the realm of popular interest—think of David Attenborough’s documentaries and the Discovery Channel— and brought science to the wider public. However, recent feature-length science documentaries have had an unparalleled large-scale appeal to audiences. The blurring of the line between scientific fact and fiction may in part explain the wide appeal of these films. The hugely successful documentary, March of the Penguins (Luc Jacquet, 2005), is an excellent example of an anthropomorphic portrayal of animals. This film, about the yearly migration of Emperor penguins in Antarctica, and narrated from a human perspective, was shown in cinemas around the globe and won an Oscar in 2006, for Best Documentary. Advancing the belief that animals experience emotions, the narrator claims that the Emperor penguins migrate for months, braving below-freezing temperatures and snow-storms for the love of their partners and children. Small humanoid penguins are portrayed as stoically defying the brutality of the Antarctic winter in order to see their children nourished. Whether animals have emotions or not, is a controversial issue in the scientific world. However, influenced by this film, many people may readily accept that animals have emotions, without carefully considering the opposing view. Recently, a new French documentary has been released: The Besieged Fortress (Philippe Calderon, 2006). Anthropomorphizing its subject in a similar manner to March of the Penguins, the film depicts the lives of termites and their attempt to defend their ‘metropolitan city’ from the invasion of killer ants. In spite of the almost Hollywood-style action, some close-up scenes, such as ants forming a living bridge over a water stream or attacking the termites by dropping from branches in large groups like miniature paratroopers, are remarkably well rendered and a pleasure to watch. However, focusing more on the storyline than the science, the film fails to provide a deeper understanding of these intriguing insect behaviours. The narrator does not even name the species featured. So far, it seems that French cinema dominates the niche of big-screen science documentaries; however, the BBC is about to change this picture. A crew is currently in the Kalahari Desert filming a feature documentary about meerkats. Meerkats’ communal behaviours, especially their cooperation in rearing their young and teaching them how to feed themselves, are strikingly reminiscent of human communities. Previous documentaries about meerkats, such as Meerkat Manor, have been popular both in the UK and the US. Their popularity may in part come from the research that a group at the Department Zoology in Cambridge has conducted trying to understand their social lives and interactions. Be it March of the Meerkats or Besieged Meerkat Manor, audiences are looking forward to a good story, and, hopefully, there will be good science behind it. Mico Tatalovic is a PhD student in the Department of Zoology |
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