CRIMSON WINGS

US, 2009, 78 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Matthew Aeberhard and Leander Ward.

Unless you are an avid bird watcher or student of birds or are a devotee of nature programs on television, you probably won't know all the information that this documentary, from Disneynature, offers about flamingoes.

The photography, as one would expect, is excellent and shows the birds to beautiful advantage as well as Lake Natron in Tanzania, which is a nature marvel in itself. This reviewer has seen and been amazed at a huge gathering of flamingoes on the Namibian coast, south of Walvis Bay, so was looking forward to seeing The Crimson Wing.

One should say that the narration is rather rhetorically written rather than cutesy and may be a bit too solemn for young children's audiences who would appreciate the lesson the film offers. It is articulated slowly and clearly by radio broadcaster Mariella Frostrup.

Before the flamingoes take centre screen, the film shows the volcanic surroundings of Lake Natron, then the lake itself, a shallow lake, very salty with its own algae (which, when eaten by the flamingoes, tints their plumage). With the storms and rain, the flamingoes arrive in their thousands and settle in. They come from surrounding lakes in the Rift Valley. But the film goes on to show the fascinating change as the sun returns, quickly evaporates the shallow water with the salt crusting which floats and forms an island in the lake ten miles long.

It is here that the birds (who seem to relish flocking together in packed and jostling crowds) begin their courtship and mating. They build nests of salt where the eggs are deposited.

The film shows the young chick's emergence from the egg, bonding with its mother, being fed, trying to stand on unsteady legs and then joining the other chicks (thousands of them too).

Darwinian theory comes close to practice as predatory birds hover and follow the birds, seeking chicks to devour. Later, a rampaging cub also pursues the birds. We are shown how random birds find their legs caked in salt which solidifies, making walking difficult and leading them to be subject to prey.

The film also shows the trek of the flock from the salt island and the heat to the water and cool again before they eventually fly off, back to the lakes.

The film-makers obviously love their flamingoes, photographing them in great detail – and, at the end, unwilling to say farewell to them, repeating the whole story in summary. But, it does look very good on the big screen.