#wildlife-documentary

#wildlife-documentary

As I watch a leopard hunt in Kingdom, the BBC's latest David Attenborough-narrated documentary, I find myself thinking about a YouGov survey from a few years ago that found that half of Britons wouldn't take a free trip to the moon, with 11% turning it down because there isn't enough to see and do. As well as it providing a fantastic insight into the great British public's psyche (would outer space be better if it had Alton Towers?), I can't help but wonder if it also explains the pressure that TV commissioners feel under to find new ways to interest the pesky human race in sights that would previously have been greeted with wonder.

Author and wildlife rehabber Terry Masear has an ambitious goal: to save every injured hummingbird in Los Angeles. But the path to survival is fraught with danger. This heart-expanding Sundance hit introduces audiences to Terry's diminutive patients through breathtaking slow-motion photography and emotional storytelling. Over the course of director Sally Aitken's moving documentary, we become deeply invested in hummingbirds like Cactus, Raisin, Jimmy, and Wasabi, celebrating their tiny victories and lamenting their tragedies.

The narrative of wildlife documentaries often begins with sweeping shots of the African savannah, establishing a familiar, bittersweet cycle of life and death among species.

"It's exciting to see the first in situ [on site] footage of a juvenile colossal and humbling to think that they have no idea that humans exist."