Canadian Film Forum

teodoraSM · Junior Data inscrierii: 14/Apr/2010 Mesaje: 4

“This documentary is filmed in the Canadian Rockies and in Garibaldi Park, and it features magnificent footage of mountain solitudes and the wildlife found there, of natural splendor in all its changing moods. The film carries the implicit warning that all this may pass away if people do not seek to preserve it. Without words.”

This is how the documentary is characterizes by WILLIAM CANNING, the producer of this great creation. He made his creation in 1973, having 26minutes and 45 seconds.

After seeing the documentary I have a different opinion on how people should treat nature and animals. In just 26 minutes Canning succeeded in making me think of the terrible ways that we, people try to change nature. On one hand we try to develop the world we live in, no matter the consequences, and on the other hand we aren’t interested in how things will change and how these facts will affect us. I was always sure that all our cities and lands affected nature and the animals but actually seeing these things was really embarrassing. It is like we could all make a difference but we close our eyes and go on living our lives without thinking that our children and grandchildren will suffer the consequences.
And now to show you how the film was made.

The documentary starts this a short introduction of the surroundings. We can see a medium close up of some bird flying in the ski (0:45sec). Then we have the moon shot in tele style, showing us that time passes quickly. The producer repeats some shots for us to realize the period which is filmed. We are presented the beauty of the lands, beautiful mountains shown to us in winter season(1:34sec), different types of birds, fish playing in the water (2:32) and frogs all these having on the background a mysterious type of music, which makes us more interested in the happenings. These facts are shown to us in long and extremely long shots. However we also have some close ups and detailed shots of different types of rocks(1:45 sec). From my point of view Canning used here longs shots to be able to capture the beauty of the nature and for the viewer to take advantage of the landscapes and to be able to see the difference between the beginning of the documentary and the ending which also uses these types of long shots. All the pictures seam positive, they give the impression of happiness, light and even life, throughout the animals and their every day hobbies. For example we are able to be a close up of a frog in different positions, in the water and on the grass. We are also shown the beauty of a river at about 2:40 sec, using medium close up shots, followed by extreme close ups of vegetation, (2:53). Next we have a detailed close up of a frog at 3:06 sec and a medium close up of an eagle 3: 10 sec. As I mentioned before the landscapes are shown in winter time, so now we see snow falling from the ski and bad weather, in medium close up at 3:33sec. Followed by an extreme close up of some dry flowers.(3:48), Continuing with extreme long shots of the mountains and the ski. At 4:15 sec, we have on the screen the title of the documentary and from here on we are presented its content, starting with some medium shots of the types of rock which form the mountains. At 4:50 sec we are able to see the sun shining which expresses in my opinion that spring time is coming. Immediately after, we can see close ups of ice melting and water flowing from the snow covered mountains. (aprox. 5:00). Then we have a waterfall close up at 5: 10 sec together its loud sound which shows us its power. The shots are so closely filmed that we can see drops of water falling, and immediately after this we have some shots repeated. The ice and then the water again which means that spring has come and the ice that we saw earlier has become this beautiful clear water. (5:48) and at 5:52 we can see the waterfall and its beauty filmed slowly in medium close up from top to bottom. At 6:10 sec we see a beautiful rainbow close up filmed in tele, from my point of view, because we can not see what there is in the background. At this time the music starts again, but now we can hear a sort of tribal music and we can see again the eagle, more powerful and quick, this is the message I receive, when hearing the music and seeing the eagle at the same time, because its rising from the woods and slowly the background changes and we can see the ski and the sun which means the message is somehow positive. We start seeing more poof of spring, the grass is green, many flowers in close up, and even a little ant in extreme close up. More light in the images and at 7:12 sec the body of a young beautiful woman tanning, filmed in tele, because the mountains in the background aren’t very clear. The a drop of water filmed in extreme close up at 7.14 and then the woman again, followed by different types of spring flowers and also trees blooming. Immediately after this we have some autumn images, with trees and leaves falling, and then winter images with snow and ice in close ups. Going on, we experience again the spring and summer time with the woman tanning and flowers blooming, one type after another in quick and short shots and beautiful colors. (8:06) Suddenly the face of the woman appears on the screen for a second, she seams amazed by the beauty of nature. At 8:30 the image of leaves on the cold snow filmed in close up appears on the screen. At 8:50 sec we have a long shot of a some animals searching for food in the cold snow. The producer wants to show us the difficulty of life in the wilderness, then by some close ups he shows us how animals search their prey. Then we experience again some extreme long shots of the mountains and after that a close up of a moose during winter time.
A sad music accompanies the shots which means something bad is going to happen and then in close up we can see an animal torn apart by another animal. Sadness has come across nature, and we can se this in the extreme long shot of the mountains covered by the cold snow. At 10:35 we can admire a huge avalanche which give us the impression things getting worse, like nature is going to face a lot more in the future. The image is shown to us in slow motion from different angles, and as a result we can see the lands covered with snow, no animals or vegetation in site. Suddenly a small mouse appears, in close up at 11:04sec. Followed by two small birds, both shown in close up at the edge of a tree, trying to get close to one another, its like we experience here a small romantic story and nature is starting to heal a bit. This story continues with different animals finding their pair and together with the positive stories also the music changes into a more happy and enjoying one.

Then suddenly the music starts being somehow scary and on the screen appear some animals seeking their prey again scaring the animals which were happily spending their time with their pairs. In the background we can hear the growl of the panthers and the dangerous eyes of the wolfs. Some bears are shown in the picture using zoom in and out. Next we can hear the snicker of a deer. And the music changes again and it seams like the story is too. We face danger and mystery again. Death is a normal thing in the wilderness, animals have to eat something, and the ones which are more powerful have more luck. Returning to some positive sights nature and its beauty we can see some close ups of some beautiful butterflies in different colors an d sizes, some being filmed in tele. (14:46).

The first problems appear, some animals get sick. However some have babies, which we can see in close up very good. These little animals try to imitate their parents, they are adorable. These pictures are shown by zooming. Another picture in tele in shown by an eagle. Then a woodpecker close up, giving food to its babies in a birch tree is filmed very nice and clear.(17:38).

Some zoom pictures are shown one after another, of birds or trees or simple landscapes and then long shots of other animals. At 19:14 sec we can see a long shot of a person, another sign that times passes fast, because this person is older that the woman we earlier saw. This image is zoomed out to an extreme long shot which shows us a beautiful landscape, moving up to the shiny ski. This time we face a man, making different sculptures on rocks.(19:45) meaning that times passes and man is slowly showing his presence, but this fact isn’t a positive one, even the music is sad. Then we see some birds flowing in the water and then flying away like they are running from something. Something bad or dangerous. The music changes and nature is getting more sad and affected by something, vegetation does not appear anymore, trees suffer, animals suffer.(20:25) We can see quick shots of trees cut down, in comparison with how beautiful they were in the past., where flowers were supposed to bloom, there is nothing just sad and cold weather. Next we experience the power of fire destroying the woods and parts of animals shown to us in close up. At 21:46 sec. some firemen appear to put the fire out, we can see them in close up, actually we can see the water they use to save the woods. Well this is the first impression they give us, because we will see further on that this is not the reason they came. Saving the nature isn’t their priority, actually I think men started the fire to clean more easily the lands and use them in their favor. Another theory could be that fire started because of mans interventions in these parts of nature. 22:50 all which remains is smoke. Finally after some time, some little flowers starts appearing, in close up, grass starts to show, color reappears, little trees start growing, animals start appearing again but then the music changes and we can feel danger coming again.

Suddenly large machinery appears, animals seam confused and afraid. Man is definitely here to stay, they are cutting trees, and building utilities. As a result we have a nice new road. Unfortunately, at 24: 50 we can see the first bad effect that this road had on animals and nature. A close up a dead animal appears on the screen, slowly animals die one by one because they can not face the changes men have done to their home. In an extreme long shot we can see a big lake which slowly dries out.

A I sad at the beginning of my presentation, we can review some of the pictures shown at the beginning of the documentary, but this time they are darker and more sad, and this is only because men have interfered in the lands where beauty and peace where the most important issue.
These facts does not need word to express, it is clear just by seeing that men changed nature and caused death to many animals. Unfortunately they will keep doing the same thing until it will probably be too late.