Celebrating life itself
Daniel Craig narrates BBC documentary about world’s natural wonders
Daniel Craig feels like the second coming of Richard Burton, and nowhere is his steamy thespian appeal more apparent than in One Life.
We don’t even see his face, yet Craig’s earnest and emotionally urgent narration is the central reason why this BBC nature documentary has so much power.
When Craig tells us about the magical weave of life, the connection between all living things, and the ambient beauty that surrounds us, we not only believe him, we’re hooked on the unspoken subtext of the whole movie.
One Life doesn’t preach on the subject of climate change or manmade environmental cataclysm, but the suggestion of Armageddon lurks beneath every pristine shot of animals in their natural environment. Without showing us clearcuts, toxic puddles, tailing ponds or slimy oil spills, One Life makes it obvious just how fragile the web of existence really is, even if it seems like an unstoppable force.
For instance, one of the jaw-dropping sequences in the film reveals the inner workings of a gigantic anthill, where grass-cutting ants have created an entire underground city. The ants live off the grass – not by eating it, but by encouraging a fungus that can digest the grass, which they, in turn, eat. The result is a nest filled with potential toxic fumes, but one the ants have controlled with air-exchanges and ducts.
To see such complexity in the insect world forces us to cast fresh eyes at our own, where human behaviour looks a lot more wasteful, and, frankly, stupid, than that of our primal cousins.
Four years in the making, the film ensured directors Michael Gunton and Martha Holmes travelled far and wide to capture the most compelling images available. So even if we feel we’ve seen things like a Venus Flytrap or a Jesus Lizard before, this footage in ultra-high definition and super-slow motion gives us an unprecedented, up-close view of the world’s true wonders.
Even a baby elephant finds added emotional appeal, as we watch a first-time mother nearly kill her baby in the mud by mistake. Not to worry: Granny elephant comes to the rescue by shoving her daughter out of the way, and saves the day-old calf from a slow and certain death.
Because it’s a nature film, you never quite know where the filmmakers are going to draw the line, as far as the carnage of life goes. No one wants to watch animals die, even if we understand it’s part of the natural process.
These two veterans do an elegant job on the tightrope, because they figure out what kinds of death we can swallow without too much discomfort.
Watching a fly die inside the sticky maw of a Venus Flytrap is acceptable for all ages, but watching a baby elephant suffocate or starve in mud is not. Things aren’t as cut and dried with the scene of the doomed water buffalo and the Komodo Dragons, but the filmmakers are kind enough to keep the gory bits off screen.
Craig never lets sentiment ruin the moment, because, all the way through this enjoyable and enlightening movie, all we feel is his deep appreciation and wonder for the world around us.