Le Peuple Migrateur (Nomaden der Lüfte / Travelling Birds)
This film has to be seen to be believed then seen again and again for the pure enjoyment it brings. The same feeling occurred at the first viewing of Jacques Perrin’s magnificent exploration of a meadow in Microcosmos. How did this filmmaker with his team of seven cameramen accomplish such a feat of filming these Travelling Birds? Almost effortlessly, the crews fly along with the birds atop ultra-light bird-like contraptions that sometimes even lead the way for the flock to follow in formation. A Gelatée Film (Paris) co-production Pandora Film is the German co-producer Le Peuple Migrateur was directed by Jacques Perrin, Michel Debats, and Jacques Cluzaud from a script by Perrin and Stéphane Durand.
Perrin and his globetrotters accompany 44 breeds of migratory birds as they cross the continents and some 25 countries. And that’s not half of the story: we get a bird’s eye view of what the migratory flocks themselves see and experience as they stream swiftly across the Grand Canyon and the Norwegian Fjords, pass the Manhattan Skyline (with the World Trade Center) and the Eiffel Tower, over the Icebergs-of Artic and the Deserts of Africa. At the outset, the birds are flying north from their winter quarters in the south, drifting with the turn of the earth on its axis, stopping along the way at familiar landings, until they reach their breeding grounds and hatch their young. Then back they fly to whence they came. Half the fun is identifying some of these majestic migratory birds. A few words of commentary explain the essentials without giving away any of the secrets, if man will ever really fathom their habits and instincts and unerring inner compasses. Titles on the screen name the species and the routes.
The other half of the fun is sharing in the fate of these migrating wonders of nature. The Canadian geese are shot down by hunters. Storms at sea ground tired birds on the rain-washed decks of passing ships. Oil puddles at industrial sites are mistaken for shimmering water too late to note the difference. Predators are everywhere, particularly during the breeding season. The young must fly at the first drop-off if they are to fly at all. A broken wing on a seashore means a meal for the crabs. One clever parrot finds a way to free itself from a cage. Another flies his route with the remnants of a broken string around its leg. And sometimes we catch the glance of a goose as he checks out his migrating partner, Jacques Perrin in his wonderful flying machine.
That particular secret is worth giving away. Over months indeed, years Perrin hatched Canadian geese and African pelicans on his estate in Normandy. The upshot of this biological experiment is the magic of the film: Jacques became their pilot that is, one of 17 different pilots in 35 countries. Another accompanying pilot, of course, is Lufthansa a primary sponsor of Nomaden der Lüfte. Check it out: »Die Lufthanseat Artikel« on the Internet:Das Geheimnis der Zugvögel