Das Geheimnis der Flamingos

Crimson Wing is a documentary based on the lives of some flamingo chicks throughout their birth to young adulthood … Filmed mainly around Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania.

Finely narrated by Zabou Breiman, with some fantastic wildlife photography and a really moving music score this film gets inside the adventures experienced over the period of a year – showing seasonal changes – births, deaths, trials and tribulations of the young birds and their weird and wonderful habitats – especially interesting are the strange "salt islands" that the flamingo's use for nesting and rearing their young.

Many of the audience were engrossed by this film … and many of the children especially seemed to "adopt" and be entranced by the story and the chicks and were genuinely concerned for the birds well-being.

A fascinating bird's eye view into the lives of flamingo's … if you didn't like or know much about these birds before – then you'll grow to be fascinated by them from watching this well crafted documentary, superb, high-quality photography, beautiful landscapes and a stirring musical score.

Recommended for lovers of nature documentaries everywhere.

A story told in a simple, friendly, inspiring way. The music score is one of the best soundtracks ever written (considering scores for cinema, TV and video games) and adds to the overall experience this film creates - in a way one might say that it even defines this movie and sets the standard for other future productions.

The director's view of a story (a circle of life in a way) is also a highlight for this documentary as it unfolds, expands and then sets itself in a clear, well define perspective of what life is, what colour is and how we, as the birds, are defined by these elements.

A fluid, well described and narrated documentary like only a few. Watch it, even if you only do so for the score and the integration of the score to the cinematography.

Well, I must say that I was really quite impressed with this "Disneynature" documentary that took an in-depth look at the flamingos of Africa who (once a year) arrive by the 1000s at Lake Natron (in Tanzania) in order to mate and raise their young.

In part, this thoughtful documentary was, without question, a very sad tale from the viewpoint of the survival of the flamingo chicks who must quickly gather their strength in order to endure the hardships that immediately come before them and challenge their very existence.

With its excellent photography and its equally superb soundtrack music (from The Cinematic Orchestra), I certainly recommend this DVD very highly to those of you who are interested in witnessing such an amazing phenomenon like this one from the world of nature where many astounding marvels are there for us to behold.

Like MARCH OF THE PENGUINS, THE CRIMSON WING is a nature documentary focused on a single subject, produced by Walt Disney Studios of all people. Thankfully this isn't a twee or sentimental type account of the material, rather a solid, fact-focused documentary packed full of gorgeous photography of the birds.

It turns out that Lesser Flamingos are the birds behind the myth of the Phoenix, and the correlation of their lifecycle to that of the legendary bird rising from the ashes is an engaging one. But this is a film that offers more to the casual viewer, with plenty of tragedy and chaos along the way. There are the inevitably tear-jerking scenes involving the chicks that didn't make it, and such moments are tragic beyond belief.

THE CRIMSON WING offers strong commentary by experienced narrator Mariella Frostrup and a lean, mean, running time which excises extraneous material from the narrative. Best of all, though, it has fantastic cinematography that helps to fuel a colourful, engaging and thorough exploration of the topic.

For me, Crimson Wing was a somewhat sad and tragic story that showed me very clearly what hardships the flamingos had to go through in order to preserve their species.

Filmed almost entirely at Lake Natron in Tanzania, not only did the adult flamingos have to protect their new-born chicks from such ravenous beasts as the mongoose, but the vast salt deposits that accumulate around Lake Natron posed an equally treacherous threat for the survival of the struggling young, as well.

Crimson Wing was a "Disney-Nature" presentation. Not only was it impressively photographed and its narration by Mariella Frostrup informative, but its musical score by Le Cinematic Orchestra set the mood of this documentary's story very nicely.

Yes. I certainly do recommend Crimson Wing to all who are curious about the diversity of the natural world that exists in abundance all across this planet we call "ours'.