Grutto! De Reis van Onze Nationale Vogel (2022)

Ruben Smit sticks to his successful, yet still superficial, approach to the nature documentary. The director of De Nieuwe Wildernis and Wad: Overleven op de Grens van Water en Land once again has a treasure trove of beautiful footage at his disposal, which he reduces to a romanticized view of nature through an excess of accelerated and slowed-down shots, supplemented by dreamy music and sometimes somewhat clumsy commentary. The Black-tailed Godwit is apparently 'our national pride,' and although we have only had sporadic snow in recent years, the Netherlands was apparently 'in the grip of King Winter' somewhere during that period. Only at the very end does the word climate finally appear, but the consequences of climate change and the role of the agricultural sector in the deterioration of Dutch nature were apparently worth no more than a postscript. Beautiful pictures, little depth. The equivalent of a coffee-table book.

Translated from Dutch · View original

It remains a muddling through with Rubin Smit, let's say the David Hamilton of nature documentaries. I suspect that this PhD ecologist is unable to delegate and does not want to allow a critical outside perspective.

I sat cringing, watching the superficial cinematography, the intrusive music telling me it was going to get exciting or romantic, and the script that was shaky on all sides and constantly raised questions that remained unanswered. And above all, I got palpitations from the off-screen voice telling me that the Black-tailed Godwit lays an egg one by one (really, not four at once), the chick walks to its mother, King Winter reigns in the Netherlands, and so on—text written by Rubin Smit himself to accompany images that… well, you know.

Sweet images with a sweet message that are undermined at the end by a few texts about the climate crisis, factory farms, etc.

But above all, what do I (a bird amateur) know now more about the Black-tailed Godwit than what I didn't already know? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Where does the urge to migrate come from? What are the differences in appearance and behavior between the ancient Black-tailed Godwit, the Icelandic Godwit, and the Dutch Godwit, or are there none?

Sorry, Rubin (whom I don't know), but this is empty, old-fashioned pretty cinematography that nobody is waiting for.

Translated from Dutch · View original

Beautiful documentary, primarily featuring beautiful visuals. No remarkable story and a bit too long.

Translated from Dutch · View original