Kalahari

This is a nature film from Jamie Uys who is better known for The Gods Must Be Crazy. It covers the deserts of southern Africa from the Namib Desert to the Kalahari Desert with a little bit of humor. It has some memorable nature scenes. In fact, this is the first theatrical film of my memories. I still remember many scenes like the droplet which sets a bird's nest on fire and the fish which protects her young by keeping them in her mouth. It is strange and wonderous and unforgettable. The cinematography is fair with some great animal footage. The humor in the narration is mostly gentle but also differentiates it from the other nature films. This certainly gives those others a run for their money.

Several years before he hit it big with his "Gods Must Be Crazy" comedies, South African writer / producer / cinematographer / editor / music supervisor Jamie Uys made this endearing documentary. About four years in the making itself, this is an endearing film with an often comedic bent.

Its main intent is to document animal behaviour in the forbidding environments of the White and Red Namib deserts, where many species struggle to survive. It also shows us an isolated jungle paradise in the middle of the desolation, along the banks of a river, and how the beasts that live there tend to take their easier lives for granted. In the final half hour or so, Uys introduces us to some of the indigenous people of the region, and their own methods for survival.

Some of the most memorable bits involve some ingenious behaviours in the animal kingdom, such as the mother bream that allows her thousand offspring to swim into her mouth so that they are safe from predators. Some species actually collaborate on the search for food, which is fascinating to see. Some of the comedy comes from animal actions we see as recognizable: when the various species ingest too many of the berries from the Marula tree and basically stagger around in a drunken sort of state. It's also funny to see when that one bird constantly foils the efforts of a tribesman to obtain his prey.

The film may be perhaps a little too precious and manipulative at times (it didn't need the comedy sound effects on the soundtrack), but it never goes truly overboard in terms of sentiment. Some of the most riveting material involves the often perilous lack of water that can kill off many animals.

Enhanced by classical works by the likes of Brahms and Tchaikovsky, "Animals Are Beautiful People" is wonderful entertainment for anybody who's ever taken interest in nature documentaries on TV. It has a delightful cast of two-legged, feathered, four-legged, and many-legged area residents, and is delightfully narrated by Paddy O'Byrne.

Eight out of 10.

I loved this movie so much that I watched it at least 5 times at the very time when it was released. I've just seen it again after 27 years and I am still in love with it. Seeing that, my friend Sandy promised to buy me a copy for Christmas. Guess how many more times I am going to watch it?! I greatly recommend this movie to all people of all ages.

Okay, I have written some rather unfriendly comments before, but there can be nothing bad said about this movie. In this movie, the director shows how much of a comic genius he really is. The scenes are wonderfully played out, considering the animals are not acting; makes me wonder how many thousands of takes the director must have had. The director plays the role of the narrator in a sort of zoological commentary on how animals of the Kalahari act really like humans, and they really do. They even get drunk like humans. The editing is great and the colours are wonderful, in my point of view. I remember the first time I saw this movie, I thought I would have died of laughter 4 or 5 times, I even had to check my pulse to make sure. That is how funny this movie is. It is worth the money and the time by a long-shot. Enjoy, everyone.

I've always loved animals and I don't really have any favorites, although I find fishes very interesting to watch. Sometimes I even have more fun with my pets than with people because they don't think about their actions, they just do what they like to do. I also like to watch documentaries, although I have to say that many documentaries can get boring after a while. But this movie isn't just an ordinary documentary, it's actually a comedy. When this movie was on television I absolutely wanted to watch it.

Never have I ever seen a documentary that showed us the animal world in this way, but I have to say that I'm a big fan. I just loved the combination of the funny narration with the nice images and the music. It all worked perfectly and I had some great laughs several times. This could have been another boring documentary, but it wasn't. It was actually the best one I had seen in years. I give it an 8.5/10