Oct 29, 2020
Our Planet: A masterclass documentary
4 years, 50 countries and 600 crew members brought this documentary to life!
Do you know what the top rated TV shows are according to IMDB?
As you can see, the box highlights I made are of nature documentaries and there are 4 of them in the top 10.
Planet Earth, Planet Earth 2 and Blue Planet 2 would make anyone go awe with nature but Netflix’s Our Planet will make you go awe as well as bring tears to your eyes. The show covers each and every biome on this planet with beautifully tailored narration from Sir David Attenborough, who has also narrated for the other three in the top 10. His narration brings joy and sorrow in the most beautiful of ways possible.
“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty, the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.” — Sir David Attenborough
This article is not a review of the show, which you can get elsewhere easily. This article is to re-illustrate the best parts of the show. I will be talking about three scenes from the show that either put me in awe of our nature or the ones that brought me grief.
Walruses Falling to Death
“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever filmed,” — Jamie McPherson, a cameraman from the team that recorded this behaviour.
The video will break your heart! The reason behind this behavior of Walruses is complicated but many point towards “Climate Change”.
Walruses need to rest after feeding, with not enough ice floor available to rest, a lot of these mammals travel to the same solid regions to rest. With huge number of the mammals coming to the same region, many do not have space to rest, and end up climbing higher ground for space. Sadly, their weak eyesight out of water confuses them and they eventually fall to death from extreme heights.
Rare Footage of Siberian Tiger
“But this is the home of an animal so rare it’s almost mythical” — Sir David Attenborough
The word “Rare” can be replaced with “Siberian Tiger”. There are now less than 600 of these magnificent tigers across the world. In fact, the footage captured for the show was the best ever captured of a Siberian tiger in the wild. The behind the scenes of this particular footage shows you the struggle of the filmmakers went in order to actually find an animal so rare.
The Threesome
“The stability of life on our planet relies on such connections between different habitats.” — Sir David Attenborough
The shoal of mackerel (Fish) are feeding on the krill (Smaller fish not visible in these pictures), this attracts the dolphins. Dolphins attack the mackerel from the bottom, pushing them towards the surface bringing the predators from the air, in this case the shearwaters (Bird).
This spectacle is one of the various such behaviors among the creatures across the world that co-ordinate with each other to reap the mutual benefits.
I could talk about more such extraordinary scenes from the show, but it would be a disgrace to put such a show to words. In fact, this and the other top nature documentaries are a must watch for every human being on the planet. If you haven’t then you are missing the very meaning of life.
Sir David Attenborough has come up with a new script compiling all his shows and explaining the history of changes earth has seen just in his lifetime. He considers this new documentary as his personal witness statement of his life and the future.
All we can do is follow the advice of such a treasure and hope for this earth to sustain a bit longer.
