La vie privée des plantes

The Private Life of Plants is a TV series, which is also available as a VHS video set that is commonly played in high school, and college biology classes. (This is where I first saw it) This series is part of a two-series set. The other of which is a similar series called Trials of Live covering animal life.

The sheer scale of a David Attenborough series is something to behold. In The Private Life of Plants, the use of time-lapse photography allows the viewer to gain remarkable insights into a world in which most of us have little idea about, and the breadth, variety and diversity of the plant world is every bit as interesting as the animal world.

As with the other 'Life' series that Attenborough presents, each episode has a different focus, starting with Travelling and ending with Surviving. Along the way, all corners of the Earth are visited, from tropical rainforests to the tops of mountains, arctic islands, and the great oceans of our planet. We learn how plants can be collaborative, be defensive and aggressive, live together, and compete for natural resources.

It's a privilege to watch a series that is both entertaining and educational in equal measures. Although this series is now 30 years' old, it still has the capacity to make the viewer marvel and will be one that newcomers will treasure for many years to come.

They move. They hunt. They kill. They struggle for life just like us animals. It is all just on a slower timetable. Once speeded up to something our mind can grasp, we see the wonderful world of plants in all its glory. We are given a six-part series with the following components: Travelling, Growing, Flowering, The Social Struggle, Living Together and Surving. Attenborough is wonderful here. He shows us the struggle of plants to survive in a story that is full of extraordinary drama and breath-taking beauty. This and another of his great works, "Life on Earth", are among the best production and entertainment pieces I have ever seen.

It is well known that the plants form the basis of life as we know it. Except some archea and/or underocean geothermal power supported beings, rest all are dependent upon plants. That makes it is so utterly surprising that most of us would consider plants a boring topic and give anything to see a lion chase a gazelle even after seeing it umpteen times in Discovery.

Enter David Attenborough !

After seeing this series you would never see the plants the same way. David has a way of narrating natural world like no one else. I have seen many of his documentaries. But I must admit that nothing prepared me for "Private life of Plants". David has exceeded himself and it seems that it cannot be surpassed except of course when he comes with another of his tales. Watching this documentary is much more exciting than any movie, even for the documentary non-buffs ... for me who thrives on docus it is God's gift.

It is impossible to write about all the wondrous plants, extraordinary flowers, brilliant adaptations, exotic geographies and many more that David chronicles. And after all you have seen, you will be far from saturated ... you will wish to watch 100 more such episodes.

Cannot give it less than 20 stars out of 10 !!!

Actually a lot of episodes start in the ordinary setting of any old English woods, but they seem exotic, particularly when you see a fungus in time lapse.

I saw a documentary on David Attenborough a few years ago and remember that this documentary brought a lot of apprehension amongst the producers... "But they're plants, they just sit there, and you're going to make a documentary about that?" I don't think I can name a better one. I don't think I could imagine a better one.

It's captivating from cover to cover (especially if you have the DVD version)

I even loved the theme music.

For those who haven't seen it, Attenborough shows plants to be so much more amazing than animals. They *do* move, some faster than others, they hunt, but the fascination comes in the fact that we're used to wildlife action coming on four legs, it is an alien world when shown properly, but we live in it, it isn't a fictional fantasy creation.

What a gift he has. Thank goodness for him, and for the ABC (Australian) and BBC.

SS