The Crimson Wing 2008
Earlier this year Disney Movie Rewards had a sale on Disneynature blu-rays for Earth Day, with the price cut in half. That price is in DMR points, so really it doesn’t cost anything, but the points aren’t that easy to come by, mostly earned by redeeming codes that come with Disney blu-rays at 150 points per title. A normal title might cost 1500 points or the purchase of 10 blu-rays. Pickings at DMR can be kind of thin, but I wound up buying two of the better reviewed Disneynature titles back in May. Then another even better sale came along later in the year and I wound up buying two more Disneynature movies (including this one) never having watched the first two. I was a little nervous that I overcommitted, but decided to finally watch The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos since it came out first, back in 2008.
At only 79 minutes it is short for a feature, but long for a nature special given the usual 50-60 minute length of a PBS Nature installment. Like any nature special, it is mostly some great footage of wildlife and scenery combined with the struggle to survive. It seems like the struggle part can be overplayed, even though it definitely exists and animals in the wild seem to rarely die of old age. This movie lays the struggle on pretty thickly in the middle as predator birds attack babies while other baby birds struggle and seem doomed by crystallized salt on their bodies. This gives the movie some drama and conflict, but I don’t like it. Also to be expected is a voiceover, this one maybe as often poetic as it is informative, though there is a balancing act there between dry and dramatic with my preference more towards dry and informative (it is still informative). The soundtrack is also very good, with some atmospheric music and other parts more up front, but still enjoyable and complementary to the visual aspect. The footage they get is just gorgeous, not just amazing close ups of hatching flamingos, but with artistic shots of birds flying, reflections in the mirror of the lake, and some other great shots of sunset or rain. Given that temperatures were up to 130 degrees, it is nice to be able to enjoy close up look in an inhospitable environment from home. Anyway, despite maybe a little too much struggle and a little too much poetry, this is a very solid nature movie about a unique place and one of nature’s most unusual and beautiful birds in the flamingo.
The blu-ray did not come with a digital copy, but has some decent extras showing interviews with the filmmakers and some of their own struggles and some of the local people who are barely shown in the movie. I would have liked to have seen more about the filming (especially some of the aerial parts) and setting, but you get a taste of it. The movie comes with a picture-in-a-picture commentary that pops up if you turn it on and gives some good added information about making the movie, plus some pop-up facts that add very little.
Written: 27 Oct 2019
Owned on: Blu-ray, DVD