NINE NATURE DOCUMENTARIES: AN ANALYSIS

Dynasties – Tiger

Often, this series’ story elements are only possible due to well-informed shoots extensively following the lives of known animals. This particular episode is greatly strengthened by using knowledge of the local tigers’ family relationships, such as when the focal tigress’ adult daughter trespasses on her territory. The difficulty of filming tigers in Indian terrain shows in that it appears the team got no footage of the focal tigers hunting successfully. However, skilled use of remote control cameras and camera traps paid off with amazing and intimate shots of the cubs. A particular tour-de-force of rare footage captured by camera trap is when the young female cub Beeba carefully approaches an adult male, apparently risking death – until the narration beautifully breaks the tension to reveal it’s her father. It’s this dramatic flair, created using in-depth knowledge of the focal animals, that I find characteristically powerful of the Dynasties series.

The Poachers’ Pipeline | Al Jazeera Investigates

We’re immediately plunged into thick of action using hidden cameras in dealers’ dens at the start. The poor video quality and camera angle are compensated for by good editing, a powerful subtitling style, and dramatic music. The narrative is well-informed by a strong variety of interview sources from multiple fields of expertise and in multiple countries. There’s an important focus on levels of involvement and power of poaching rings, daringly leading all the way up to high-level government officials and heads of state – the investigation’s corruption revelations made a significant splash in South African politics. However, I was disappointed by the poor narrative flow and choppy editing style, with coverage skipping back-and-forth between the people involved in the pipeline at different levels. Why not simply have to story follow the supply chain from poacher to consumer for a more logical structure?

Apocalypse Cow: How Meat Killed the Planet

The ecological thinker and activist George Monbiot tackles the animal agriculture issue from an ecological angle, explaining land use and abuse simply and succinctly. He often uses creative visual representations, diagrams or models to make things clear; coupled with the themed shots and cartoon-like cutaways they give the documentary a unique and appealing style. However, despite remaining logical in the focus, Monbiot does little to engage or acknowledge the emotions of audiences whose focus is not ecology. His confrontational approach during an interview with a dairy farmer puts her on the defensive. Climate is mentioned relatively little despite being a vital interlinked issue, and there is virtually no consideration of animal welfare either. Throughout, he does several things very unlike his usual pro-environmental and pro-vegan work: namely, taking a plane, soon followed by shooting and eating a deer. While as a conservationist I agree with the logical reasoning behind his arguments and actions, it’s clear this documentary will alienate farmers, animal rights activists, and even some environmentalists. Although it will effectively convince those whose focus is on wildlife, it could have been framed and argued better to appeal to the audiences who feel strongly about farming and food production. Having worked with Monbiot before and seen several times how well he can bring out the emotions of a crowd in a speech or talk, I am somewhat surprised and disappointed by the flaws in this documentary. The definite positive, however, is a clear way forward to a vision of a better future. There’s an optimistic focus on emerging solutions to farming and land use, and inspiring examples of how well nature can rebound once given space and time.

The Last Animals

Kate Brooks starts by plunging us into Asian wildlife markets with hidden cameras, in a murky low-quality opning beginning at the end of the rhino horn and ivory trade. Brooks’ introduction of herself at first appears gratuitous, but we soon sink into her casual narration – and her background as a war journalist comes in full force as we see her link and compare the poaching crisis to human abuse and war stories. This is particularly powerful in her footage of the Congo, where we follow rangers and soldiers combating poaching in Garambe National Park, a hotbed for poachers funded by militias, rebels and terrorist groups. What’s different is Brooks’ ability to show the human side of both the rangers as they fear their next patrol or mourn the loss of comrades, and of the captured poachers being grilled by their jailers, or rushed to surgery as they bleed from gunshot wounds. There is no favouritism in her coverage, nor laying of blame on the foot-soldiers of either side.  Brooks unshirkingly documents the bloodstained horror of these missions, the brutal simple conditions of poverty in which the poachers and soldiers are bundled through in the hopes they’ll survive, the death throes of dying rhinos, the simple burial of a dead poacher wrapped in a tarpaulin.  The edit powerfully keeps returning to this footage to illustrate the human cost of the illegal trade, particularly when one of her key protagonists in Congo is killed in combat, linking directly to an international outcry against the poaching crisis by high-up political figures. The film ends on an honest mixed bag of hopeful policy changes and dark notes of political backslides. Vitally, it calls viewers to action to support international trade bans and environmental crime prosecution. It’s crucially brought home to a US audience with footage of protests and wildlife trade happening in their country, showing their states’ complicity.

Overall, The Last Animals harrowingly documents the extinction of Northern White Rhinos in front of our eyes and the decline of elephants, uniquely showing the human as well as the animal cost of this crisis.

The Game Changers

This inspiring myth-busting documentary about athletes pushing boundaries on plant-based diets maintains a relaxed tone which isn’t aggressive or confrontational towards viewers. This is no small feat considering how deeply ingrained food traditions are. There is quite a heavy focus on men, but this is no doubt justified considering the documentary’s target audience. The cultural origins of the misconceptions and their links to advertising and sold imagery of machismo are made clear without offending. Complex scientific research is explained with beautiful animations and clear figures, from simple percentages and graphs to complex models of proteins and hormones interacting. I was impressed by how well the film struck a balance between appealing to a difficult audience and delving deep into the science. Using audience-appropriate music, a strong variety of expert and witness sources, and tense shots of human perseverance, overall I felt it mastered science communication better than most documentaries I have seen on the subject of veganism so far.

Stroop: Journey into the rhino horn war.

Stroop’s angle is South-African centred in its focus and audience target, with the ex-news presenter Susan Scott’s style coming through and creative editing in of news headlines to match. Building on the revelations of previous documentaries, Stroop takes a deep dive into the illegal trade to go further than others in several ways. One is to follow rhino horn all the way back to the consumer and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. Another is to focus more intensely on law enforcement’s successes and failures, from trafficker and poacher stings through to co-option and corruption of South Africa’s court systems and government ministers. But perhaps the most powerful way in which the documentary builds pathos is the emotional coverage of the veterinary and animal welfare situation for poaching victims and rhino orphans, including watching them grow up and become victims yet again. The passion and drive behind Scott and de Bod’s four-year endeavour is palpable in the final film. The result is a success in painting a full picture of the complex poaching crisis. The way it leaves the viewer feeling as though the story is incomplete is perhaps its silent call to action; however, the filmmakers could have been made clearer what needs to be done next to solve the problem.

Seven Worlds, One Planet – South America.

In the introduction to the puma’s story, the narrative conflict is introduced with the mother’s injury. Dramatic tension and suspense are built through repeat hunt failures, with musical feel adjusted perfectly to show ongoing hardship.

This is contrasted almost jarringly with a humorous tone for the following sequence of penguins, accompanied by comical music. To create tension and comedy, waiting penguins are played as ‘onlookers’ reacting as they watch to see if the ‘leader’ will make it through a mass of sea lions.

New animal stories are clearly contextualised by concise science communication of geology, weather and biodiversity patterns. Drone footage gives geographical context as we ‘zoom in’ to the species of focus.

The narration touches on key conservation issues, covering endangerment of species, numbers remaining, insect population declines, cattle ranching, often accompanied with appropriately melancholy music. Again, drone footage of  the forest/farm divide is quite effective at giving a broad-scale idea of the problem. Perhaps more compelling is the time-lapsed satellite footage of deforestation, followed by showing the Amazon biodiversity we stand to lose. The episode finishes by calling placing the responsibility on us to find a “balance between needs of humans and nature” – but somewhat disappointingly doesn’t explain how we might go about it.

In terms of cinematography, incredible macro footage of a poison dart frog and its tadpoles beautifully illustrates amphibian cognition. It appears in-nest footage of scarlet macaw chicks must have been filmed in captivity to finish a story not fully capturable in the wild. Several slow-motion clips and sequences stand out as particularly striking. The unreal closeup shots of an anaconda scales carving through river mud almost seem 3D-animated. The close-ups of jumping piraputanga, apparently achieved with a long barrel zoom lens and using the fish’s target food as a point of camera focus, are a stroke of cinematography genius.

Boots on the Ground

This documentary makes powerful use of audio and interview speech over clips of other scenes, often in slowmotion, to create contextual dramatic effect. There’s heavy consideration of purpose and meaning for these rangers, explaining why they give so much to the cause. It has to be admitted there’s less focus on the wildlife until closer to the end, but extremely powerful and unshirking coverage of the ugly reality of poaching. The crew film carcasses, maggots, dead foetuses and all. The reactions of the unit to these scenes are also covered, along with their struggles and family lives, to show an emotional and human side which is often ignored in traditional nature documentaries or macho coverage of military operations. In this respect I particularly appreciated the use of slow-motion video portraits of the trainees, covered in dirt of blackened with paint. The film has been an inspiration to many a young South African who’s gone on to do their anti-poaching training.

Blue Planet II’s final episode

This is was what I had been waiting for. Showcasing rarely-seen pioneering work at the forefront of marine conservation research generates interest and allows marine biologists to demonstrate the importance of their work. But just as exciting and heart-lifting was the dramatic and almost immediate impact of the programme, which sent shock-waves across the world, sparking what became known as the “Blue Planet effect”. Other mainstream media woke up to the dangers of plastic: old viral videos of plastic pollution resurfaced, and suddenly everyone was thinking about how to cut down on single-use plastics. Inspiring and emotionally engaging educational content on marine conservation issues such as ghost gear, plastic pollution and overfishing are key to changing the behavior of consumers and businesses. As well as being iconic television, Blue Planet II proved to me the impact that skillful filmmaking can have on hearts and minds.