Winged Migration

Winged Migration (French: Le Peuple Migrateur, also known as The Travelling Birds in some UK releases, or The Travelling Birds: An Adventure in Flight in Australia) is a 2001 documentary film directed by Jacques Cluzaud, Michel Debats and Jacques Perrin, who was also one of the writers and narrators, showcasing the immense journeys routinely made by birds during their migrations.
The film is dedicated to the French ornithologist Jean Dorst.
The movie takes the viewer on a journey alongside many species of birds from the old and new world.
It begins on Europe, following the ending of winter on a riverside, where European robins, cuckoos and kingfishers feed with the plenty of spring. A flock of Greylag geese soon land and depart when a kid spooks them off; one of the geese gets tangled in a net, but the kid manages to release it and it reunites with its flock as night falls.
After a flight with the geese flock and a Mallard, the movie shifts to the view of two other birds: the Common crane, seen arriving at a farm and accidentally spooked by an old lady, and White stork, who arrives to breed on the roofs of buildings. Barnacle geese are then followed on a flight across shorelines while whooper swans soar across Asia towards Japan. The film also showcases a group of Japanese cranes dancing as a mating ritual and a flock of Bar-headed geese escaping an avalanche on the Himalayas.
On North America, in the Grand canyon, a Bald eagle sees a flock of Canada geese fly north, with the flock landing to take a rest but soon spooked by a herd of wild horse, accidentally causing one to get lost. Clark's greebe run in the water in sychrony to court before a group of American white pelicans arrive. Sandhill cranes arrive at a lake to pass the night before making their final flight north.
On a field, some songbirds like Red-winged blackbird and Yellow-headed blackbird sing amidst a wetland while on a field, combine harvesters reap the fruits of their labor, unaware they're close to a quail's nest. The flock of Canada geese seen earlier fly over a farm where a farm goose tries to follow to no success.
Greater sage-grouse fight for the right to mate, while Snow geese make one final stretch to reach the Arctic Circle just in time for spring. The ice on the north thaws as glaciers begin to break. Arctic terns hunt for fish near the breaking zone while the flock of Barnacle geese turn around.
The tundra bursts with life as hatchlings of dozens of migratory species begin to hatch, from Whooper swans and Common loons, to Sandhill cranes, Snowy owls, and Snow geese, with one hatchling being chased by a Parasitic jaeger for getting too close to its nest
On the coasts of the Arctic Ocean, as summer reaches its peak, Common eiders plunge into the water while Puffins run the gauntlet of Great skuas. Guillemots, Kitiwakes and Northern gannets feed and rear their young around the clock. The good times do not last for long, however, for as autumn arrives, food becomes scarce, and birds must now fly back south.
The Barnacle geese flock fly once again through the same route they came from, soaring over a stormy sea and having to land on top of a navy ship when the weather worsens; Meanwhile, the Canada and Snow geese fly through redwoods as winter beings to close in, running the gauntlet of hunters who kill some of the flock. A flock of Red-breasted geese fly across a refinery, and one member gets stuck on some oil. The flock of Greylag geese close in on their winter grounds, but the flock is ambushed by hunters, with the goose with the tangled net remains surviving the ordeal.
The Common cranes fly south and across the same farm where they got spooked earlier, but this time, they accept the food given by the old lady. The White storks finish their migration on an oasis on the Sahara desert in Africa. Other birds alongside the coastline, like wading birds, arrive to feed. Great white pelicans fly inland to a large wetland to feed in vast numbers alongside other birds like Black heron, White-faced whistling ducks and African darters.
The movie then moves to the Amazon rainforest, where Macaws survive the daily downpurs of the jungle. A boat is then showed with animals such as Red-and-green macaw, Equatorial saki, and Toucans being kept in wooden vages; one lucky Hyacinth macaw, however, manages to escape and fly back into the wild. On the Andean mountains, Andean condor use the rocky walls to catch thermals to soar over the land in search of food.
The final stretch follows the Antarctic ocean, where on the Falkland Islands, Rockhopper penguins and Black-browed albatross come to breed every year. On other antarctic islands, King penguins assemble in large flocks to breed, reducing, not eradicating, the threat of predators, as a group of Giant petrels catch and kill one hatchling. On another corner of the island, Wandering albatross display their enormous wings to other females as their mating ritual.
The birds soon fly into the sea to feed, with a flock of King penguins heading to the sea. The Arctic terns fly back north, as the good times on the north return, while back on Europe, spring arrives to the opening riverside once again. The Eurasian robin and the kid from the beginning of the movie witness the flock of Greylag geese, along with the one with the tangled net remains, stop momentarily before continuing their flight north once again.
The movie was shot over the course of three years on all seven continents. Filming began in July 1998 and ended in spring 2001. Most of the footage is aerial, shot using in-flight cameras from ultralights, paragliders, and hot air balloons, with additional footage captured from trucks, motorcycles, motorboats, remote-controlled robots, and a French Navy warship.
The viewer appears to be flying alongside birds of successive species, with many shots of Canada geese. They traverse every kind of weather and landscape, covering vast distances in a flight for survival. The filmmakers exposed over 590 miles of film to create an 89-minute piece. In one case, two months of filming in one location was edited down to less than one minute in the final film.
Much of the aerial footage was taken of "tame" birds. The filmmakers raised birds of several species, including storks and pelicans, from birth. The newborn birds imprinted on staff members, and were trained to fly along with the film crews. The birds were also exposed to the film equipment over the course of their lives to ensure that the birds would not be unsettled by it. Several of these species had never been imprinted before.
Its producer says that Winged Migration is neither a documentary nor fiction, but rather a "natural tale".
The film states that no special effects were used in the filming of the birds, although some entirely CGI segments that view Earth from outer space and include animated birds augment the real-life footage.
The film's soundtrack by Bruno Coulais was recorded by Bulgarian vocal group Bulgarka Junior Quartet in Bulgarian, as well as Nick Cave in English and Robert Wyatt. The vocal effects include sequences in which panting is superimposed on wingbeats to give the effect that the viewer is right alongside a bird.
Release date The film was released in France on 2001/12/12, Japan 2003/04/05...(Tokyo), the USA 2003/04/5...(Philadelphia International Film Festival), and the UK on 2003/09/05
Winged Migration had an overall approval rating of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes as of October 2021, based on 132 reviews, and an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critical consensus states, "A marvel to watch". It also has a score of 82 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". By gross ticket sales, the film still holds seventh place in nature documentaries and eighteenth in documentary overall.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It won "Best Editing" at the 27th César Awards, where it was also nominated for "Best Music" and "Best Debut".
• Oscar 2003 Best Documentary Feature (nominated) – Jacques Perrin
• European Film Award 2002 Best Documentary Feature (nominated) – Jacques Perrin
• CFCA Award 2004 Best Cinematography (nominated) – Laurent Charbonnier Best Cinematography (nominated) – Luc Drion Best Cinematography (nominated) – Laurent Fleutot Best Cinematography (nominated) – Sylvie Carcedo Best Cinematography (nominated) – Philippe Garguil Best Cinematography (nominated) – Olli Barbé Best Cinematography (nominated) – Dominique Gentil Best Cinematography (nominated) – Thierry Machado Best Cinematography (nominated) – Stéphane Martin Best Cinematography (nominated) – Fabrice Moindrot Best Cinematography (nominated) – Ernst Sasse Best Cinematography (nominated) – Thierry Thomas Best Cinematography (nominated) – Michel Terrasse Best Documentary (nominated)
• Chicago Film Critics Circle Awards 2004 Best Cinematography (nominated) – Bernard Luti Best Cinematography (nominated) – Michel Benjamin
• César 2002 Best Editing (Meilleur montage) Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte Best First Work (Meilleure première oeuvre) (nominated) – Michel Debats Best First Work (Meilleure première oeuvre) (nominated) – Jacques Cluzaud
• The European Film Award 2002 Best Documentary Award (Nominated) – Jacques Cluzaud Best Documentary Award (Nominated) – Michel Debats