I'll admit it. I'm a nerd and enjoy watching the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet whenever it is on. Late at night playing poker in the card room, the TV's will usually be on an endless loop of Sportscenter or some random poker tournament, but often times I find my eye wandering to the other TV with the strange creatures creeping and crawling across the screen.
I remember as a kid in daycare I would often play around in the dirt during playtime, digging for worms and putting them in a little jar, watching the collection grow. They were everything that kids loved, squirmy and slimy, slithery and weird. Now as adults, they are everything that we hate, dirty and disgusting, creepy and gross. But they never cease to be fascinating, which is why those nature shows are awesome. While I would never handle a worm or a snail with my bare hands again, I can still watch them up close and comfortable without having to get down and dirty.
Microcosmos is unlike any documentary I've ever seen. It is not the standard narrated feature where we learn cool or interesting facts. It is not like March of the Penguins which is narrated with a sweet tenderness. Not only is there basically no narration at all (maybe 90 seconds' worth of talking in the whole thing), there is no narrative either. We are simply invited to watch the daily lives of insects up close and personal. Just because there is no story, it doesn't mean there isn't any drama. These insects have to go to work, they have to protect their children, some die while others are born, there is sex, there is violence, there is romance. Basically, their lives are every bit as compelling and interesting as our own.
Remember the movie Honey, I Shrunk The Kids where kids are shrunken down to the size of ants and they are suddenly immersed in a whole new dangerous and exciting world? That is basically what Microcosmos has done. I don't know the technology behind it, but they've developed cameras so detailed with magnifying lenses so sharp that little creatures no bigger than an eyelash look like menacing dinosaurs on screen. A scenic grassy field with small ponds is transformed into wild jungles with rivers and lakes. A splatter of rain looks as if a meteor crashed onto the surface of Mars, devastating the landscape around it. Insects, with all their weird shapes with extra legs and antennae and gigantic eyes, are so interesting to look at. While we are busy wondering what life might look like on alien planets, the strangest and most fascinating creatures live right under our very feet. Sometimes I forgot I was watching a documentary and thought I was watching something out of a sci-fi film.
The cinematography and photography are beautiful to look at. Each scene is like a work of moving art. I was reminded by what critics have said of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which described many sequences in that way. In many ways they share the same attributes. Sometimes you don't know what the hell is going on, but you don't care, because you are so entertained and captivated by what is going on screen. Also, the music composed by Bruno Coulais fits perfectly. It's at times beautiful and magnificent and other times mysterious and ominous. A little bug's feat is magnified by an epic score. Little flying insects hover across screen with a military victory song reminiscent of the famous helicopter scene from Apocalypse Now.
My one minor complaint about Microcosmos is that I wish they didn't use any voice narration at all rather than the 90 seconds or so of talking. It isn't necessary in showing the insects' lives and kind of diminishes the effect of watching this strange alien planet by including the familiarity of a human voice. Otherwise, it is marvelous and one of the most intriguing and beautiful nature documentaries I have ever seen. Even with footage over fifteen years old now, it still looks amazing. More importantly, how it is all put together, from the cinematography to the music, is what separates this film from the standard Discovery Channel fare.
Grade: A-
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