This film is a tribute to the wildebeest as they set out on their yearlong odyssey; it is also a documentary featuring a fascinating array of animals including zebras, giraffes, elephants, monkeys, baboons and even hyenas, cheetahs and vultures, with an abundance of animal trivia.
"The wildebeest has long been the unsung resident of East Africa's great Serengeti plain.
Lions, elephants, giraffes, cheetahs, zebras, hippos, rhinos, ostriches, baboons, gazelles, hyenas and even vultures are, let's face it, far more interesting creatures than the ungainly wildebeest, which some have said looks as if it were designed by committee.
Although, at one-and-a-half million strong, wildebeests make up the largest segment of East Africa's wildlife population, movies about Africa have never really looked at them except in passing, when they might have served as a lion's dinner. Africa: The Serengeti, on the Feinstein IMAX big screen, changes all that.
Although all those other animals are seen in this fascinating and often exciting documentary film, Africa: The Serengeti is really about the great semiannual migration of wildebeest herds across the great plains from Tanzania in the south to Kenya in the north and back again. Finally, the animal that no one really has any strong feelings about has come into its own. Yet, true to form, of all the photos IMAX has sent out to promote the film, there is not one of a wildebeest!
Africa: The Serengeti is marvelous looking and filled with thunderous action, some violence (surely you didn't expect to see a documentary about animals in Africa without the shot of a lioness chasing down a wildebeest for the kill) and even a little discreetly handled sex (where did you think all those lions and wildebeests came from, anyway?)
Although lots of things about this film are familiar, there are some moments that can only be accomplished in IMAX's big-screen format, such as an overhead fish-eye-lens view of the plains that's remarkable, as thousands and thousands of migrating wildebeest rumble northward to their grazing grounds. The lens gives this little portion of the flatlands a rounded effect, as though we were watching the Earth from even a greater distance and could see its curves.
Another stunning shot is of a wildebeest rush-hour traffic jam as hundreds of the soaked creatures try to escape up the high banks of a swollen river with crocodiles nipping at their heels. Yikes!
Impressive as that is, however, my favorite shot finds a hippo poking its head out of a vast expanse of green vegetation that covers a pond.
Occasional time-lapse shots of boiling clouds give a sense of the power of this place and of its beauty. James Earl Jones's sonorous narration gives it a hallowed importance. The nomadic Masai people give it a majesty, with their centuries-old traditions. Oddly, the tourists riding hot-air balloons over the plains to see the animals bring it down to Earth.
It's a wildlife variety show that takes us on a journey from birth to death to triumphant rebirth . . . and all in less than 40 minutes. What more could you ask for?"
- Michael Janusonis
Leasing information
For more information on this film, please contact Charlotte Lazenberry at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
by phone at (713) 639-4725,
by fax at (713) 523-4125,
by email at clazenberry@hmns.org,
or by mail at:
HMNS Film Distribution,
One Hermann Circle Drive,
Houston, Texas, 77030.
# Of Leases: 160
Gross Box Office: $95,000,000
Formats Available: 15/70; 10/70; 8/70
Language Version Available: Arabic, Bavarian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Norwegian, Spanish (Catalan), Spanish (Castilian), Swedish
For more information on any of these films or to request a complimentary Viewing Copy (DVD format) and Press Kit please contact Charlotte Brohi, VP, IMAX Operations & Production at cbrohi@hmns.org or by phone at 713-639-4725
Film Facts
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- Film Highlight:
- 1994
- 39:30 minutes
- George Casey
- Paul Novros
- Mose Richards
- Selections from the Motion Picture Soundtrack, The Power of One
- James Earl Jones
- Africa: The Serengeti is produced by Graphic Films Corporation for Serengeti Partners, Ltd in collaboration with the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
- Graphic Films' crew was able to stage a close-up, head-on shot of a Serengeti baboon rapidly passing 'fruit' from tree limb to mouth by addicting the animal to cashew nuts. The nuts were placed closer and closer to the camera until they were finally located directly on the top of the camera body as it was operated by remote controls with the camera crew and director.
- The poignant struggle for the newborn wildebeest calf.
"As always with IMAX films, the plot of this documentary isn't nearly as vital as the sheer spectacle and sensory depth charge that comes with your immersion in the wraparound screen. When the nostril of a hippo is larger than your seat, and when you can hear birds picking bugs off an animal's back, there's a real tendency to live in the moment. That's why Africa: The Serengeti is worth a dozen National Geographic specials. Tracing the annual migration of million-member herds of wildebeests from Tanzania to Kenya and back, the film alternates aerial vistas of lush volcano craters with in-your-face, assembly-line shreddings of prey by lions, hyenas, and vultures. The epic struggle and carnage displayed in the crossing of the crocodile-infested Mara River is by itself worth the price of admission. As narrator James Earl Jones tells us, the Serengeti is "a place where it is still the morning of life, a place where the great herds still run free."
- Britt Robson
"There is a fundamental rule to the great seasonal migrations across the Serengeti plains. Everybody needs to eat - some eat grass, others eat grass-eaters. ALASKA, AMAZING JOURNEYS and AFRICA: THE SERENGETTI show director George Casey to be endlessly fascinated by cycles and struggles of survival. AFRICA: The Serengeti is brutal and beautiful as it tracks the journey of a food chain. There are elephants, giraffes, baboons, water buffalo, crocodiles and lions - the pictures speak for themselves, very little expository voice over is present or needed. Like in ALASKA, the viewer will feel a strange closeness to the animals on the Giant Screen - something more intimate and pure than a visit to the zoo can provide. The film is in effect an impossibly lucky safari delivered with a soft touch of science and philosophy.
Not forgotten in any George Casey film, Humans also have a role to play. From the earliest human remains still being uncovered in Oldivai Gorge to the still nomadic (for now) Masai people - the Serengeti reveals a human link to the migratory instinct. As seasons shift. Landscapes change and the herds go on the move - the abundance and scarcity of water drives everything. There are more than a handful of moments in this film that fully exploit the power and subtlety of the Giant Screen.
There are more than a few predatory kills throughout the film - none gratuitous or leering. Violence in nature is often and easily manipulated on film; here though it is not heightened, softened or sanitized, it simply is what it is. With the proliferation of cable television nature documentaries - big cat hunt and kill sequences are almost numbingly familiar. But watching a blast of cheetah speed on the Giant Screen is an experience that defies all expectations - it is one of many images in this very good Big Movie that has yet to be rivaled by any other LF wildlife documentary."
- Herb Lash