Penguin Wednesday II
March of the Penguins
1 October 2025
Hey guys! Man, it feels like I've disappeared for such a long time. I've been busy y'all. I really feel like I should make more posts about what's been going on with me, I'm taking this blog diary seriously. Been watching so many new movies and docus too... Blame my library. Still gotta sing my praises for the library and how it's put my life together. Today is Penguin Wednesday though, which means it's time for a very special movie I watched the other day for the first time ever! I'm talking about the french documentary La Marche de l'Empereur.
Actually I'm not 100% sure I didn't watch this movie ages ago, it feels like something my dad would have downloaded for me when I was a kid, but the truth of the matter is that if I ever did watch it, I didn't remember a thing. It certainly felt lie a first-time experience to me. But it's never too late to experience good cinema! I also chose to watch it in the original french instead of the spanish dub, since I've grown into a bit of a purist in that regard.
It's been about a week since I watched the movie, and I was hoping this time would allow me to organize the whirlwind of feelings and thoughts that came over me while I was watching it, but I don't feel any more prepared than I did then. I guess I can just pick a thread to start with.
So I could begin by saying that I genuinely wish I didn't know anything about emperor penguins before watching, because this movie should absolutely be people's first introduction to emperor penguins.
It's a bit tough to explain, and I don't want to sound weird in doing so, but this movie only appears like a documentary on the surface. I will try to elaborate on this, but this isn't merely an educational production, and the animals aren't merely animals. They're more than animals. They're actually very much people.
Note that I'm saying "people", not "characters". My dear friends who have endlessly heard me rant about writing might remember me saying "characters aren't people" and I do want to stress that difference here. If you're fond of documentaries like I am, you might be familiar with docus following individual animals with their own names, and narrating the individual's life story in order to help the viewer empathize with them. It's actually fairly common to make the animals the protagonist characters in their own story, kind of like our celebrity biopics do. It is very useful when it comes to earning the curiosity and attention of the audience. However, that is not exactly what they're doing here; it's not as straightforward. They're not making the animals into characters, but they are making the animals human. During the movie, we never get any names, or dates, or numbers. We don't actually get any of the typical educational sciency facts. The kind of language and statements that they use could be regarded as very un-scientific, in fact. But it's not a character-driven story either; it doesn't have anything resembling character arcs, and they don't pretend to make defined characters out of the penguins, even though it is the penguins themselves narrating the story. So, what do I mean when I say the penguins are human? I mean that they are deeply conscious of their reality, their history, their social life and hardships in a very human way. And when I say this movie should be everyone's first introduction to emperor penguins, I don't mean to say that it's packed with information; I mean that it's packed with overwhelming emotion. Because La Marche de l'Empereur is not merely a documentary: it's actually an epic, written on the basis of the hardships of a penguin's life. It's a poem. It's a love letter to the birds, to nature, and to life itself.
This movie's narration is kind of like someone's personal diary, except that someone is a penguin. It feels extremely warm and intimate all throughout. You will hear the penguins talk about their feelings when they dance, about love, about grief, about their ancestors, about songs and about marriage. It is pretentious, in a way, to apply human logic and feeling to the behaviors we know animals perform, but after all, we are human, and we understand nature best through the lens of our humanity. Luc Jaquet knows and brilliantly applies this. It isn't about plainly comparing an animal's experiences with a human's, but actually presenting raw emotions outright, without bars or hesitation. Other documentaries might talk about how penguins are perfectly adapted to their environment, how they've evolved to withstand the harsh conditions; this movie goes "It's cold here. The cold is deadly, and merciless, and will kill us and our babies." Other documentaries might talk about instinct, and natural adaptive behaviors; this movie goes "our ancestors made this journey, so we must as well. Our parents did this, so we're following their example. I know who my father is, I remember." This movie even chooses to begin and to end on very poetic and mysterious notes regarding what we still don't know about the birds' journey.
I can definitely understand why this is one of the most popular documentaries of all time. If you don't like animals or documentaries very much, there's a good chance animal documentaries won't appeal to you; but you'd have to be a pretty cold human altogether not to understand and connect with this movie. And as long as you feel like you can understand and connect with these birds on a deeper level, then you'll be nurturing that part of you that loves to be alive, that loves nature and all its wonder and beauty, and grieves with its creatures. I personally have to say I cannot get the nuptial dance scene out of my head. If you do not think penguins are absolutely mesmerizing, beautiful beings after watching that, I truly don't know what to tell you.
I should also say, as a final note, that every element of the movie is drawing from that same vein of love and pure emotion. The soundtrack, visuals and voice acting are really all working together to create a feeling of intimacy, like you're listening to a bedtime story told by a loved one in hushed voices. I am actually obsessed with Emilie Simon's songs.
I am really, really glad my library had this one, and I am also really glad I had decided to do the Penguin Wednesdays before finding it, cause that meant I was 100% sure to pick it up. Should get my hands on some more penguin media I haven't watched, hmm.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this week's Penguin Wednesday rec! It was an absolute delight.
