Trials of Life: Hunting & Escaping [VHS]

Trials of Life: Hunting & Escaping [VHS]
by Michael Gunton

Trials of Life: Hunting & Escaping [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: David Attenborough
Director: Michael Gunton
Edition: VHS Tape
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 50 minutes
Release Date: 1998-09-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Turner Home Ent
Studio: Turner Home Ent

VHS Movie Reviews of Trials of Life: Hunting & Escaping [VHS]

Movie Review: Uh, yes and no . . . . .
Summary: 3 Stars

Sorry for the lower rating, but I'm going to take a little different path from previous reviewers, who gave this video 5 Star ratings. I mostly didn't enjoy this video for the same reason I don't enjoy hunting (and there is nothing inherently wrong with hunting).

I did not enjoy watching large pedatory skewer birds snatch young gulls out of their cliffside nests and carry them off, still alive. I did not enjoy watching a killer whale stun a baby seal by throwing it in the air a few times before eating it. I did not enjoy watching the "gang" of chimpanzees stalk, isolate, then rip apart a victim colubus monkey.

We know that these things must go on in the wild, but I question the value of pouring a glass of iced tea and sitting down to enjoy it in the comfort of our living rooms. Nor should our children be educated so explicitly and graphically.

Yes, the photography was breathtaking . . . but so was some of the pornographic film I was exposed to back in the Navy. Extraordinary and "artful" yes, but maybe some things are best not distributed so casually on film for our viewing enjoyment.

To my surprise, I did enjoy the insect footage (and I'm usually not much interested in insects). Fascinating to learn of the modes of camouflage and the methods of deception, stalking and cover. Besides being a discovery of new information, the hunting/killing among ants and beetles, and even reptiles, did not repulse as did the same behavior among mammals and birds (perhaps it's a "warm-blooded" thing). Anyway, I'll give a few Stars for that segment, which I enjoyed and I believe would even be educational and acceptable for children.

So it's a tough call. Well produced, but I'm not sure "well viewed". What I've described here is what you get. At least I'm honest and frank about presenting the other side. Your decision.

Movie Review: the ferocity of nature
Summary: 5 Stars

Anyone who thought chimps were vegetarians will be aghast to see a pack of them hunting down a cute black and white colobus monkey in a very systematic manner, and tearing it to pieces as it screams; it is disturbing to watch this "mob violence and blood lust" as writer and host David Attenborough puts it, but fascinating in its truth of the natural world, which juxtaposes the most cruel violence with beauty; in no scene is this more evident than with a whale off the coast of Argentina, mercilessly playing with its catch, and doing so with such grace, flipping the seal in the air with its tail in a dance of death.

It is survival of the fittest, and we see several species of birds, a big cat that wades in water to fish, insects, frogs and reptiles that elude their captors with clever disguises, and the amazing ants, who swarm over their targets with unity and precision.
Anthropologist Sir David Attenborough has an entertaining way of presenting these examples, and really gets in the thick of the action, starting out with being attacked by the huge skewer birds of Shetland, because he was in the vicinity of their nests.
The photography is superb, with breathtaking footage on land, sea and air.
Not recommended for young children, but highly educational and riveting for anyone interested in animals and the savage side of our world. Total running time is 50 minutes.

Movie Review: Very cool.
Summary: 5 Stars

"...but there is one creature that none of the other creatures can defend against..."

[Man? No.]

"...the army ant."

Killer whales that jump onto the land to snag seals, and then bring them out to sea and toss their dead bodies around for fun... army ants that make living bridges for the others to cross... Very cool stuff.

There's a disturbing part at the end where chimpanzees systematically hunt down and kill a baboon, but otherwise it's very enjoyable. And even that part, though disturbing, is definitely worth seeing because it's eye-opening.

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