March of the Penguins

I turned this movie on for the kids one afternoon, but it was so beautifully fascinating that I found myself stopping to watch it with them. This documentary tells the story of the penguin mating season. It begins with the long march inland to the only solid, somewhat sheltered spot in Antarctica where every penguin there was once hatched. It shows the competition among the females for the outnumbered males and then the touching tenderness between each couple once they select their mate for the season. We get to watch through the long dark winter as the mothers lay the eggs and the the fathers keep them warm while the famished mothers make the lengthy trek back to the ocean to get food. We see the sweet reunion when the mothers return and meet their babies for the first time. The most dangerous journey of all is taken in the dead of winter when the weak fathers have to travel further and through worse weather to feed. Back and forth the parents go, taking turns keeping the new life safe and warm and traveling to the ocean for food. Then the weather begins to warm up (for Antarctica anyway) and the fluffy little baby penguins begin to toddle about on their own. Eventually, the ice at that ever changing continent melts and separates and the sea is within a few hundred yards of the mating grounds. The babies begin to eat for themselves, the parents swim away, and the family unit is over. The babies, now loosing their downy feathers, wait out the rest of summer and then, one day, they take the plunge and swim off to a new life. In a few years they too will march back to begin the cycle all over again.

Though this documentary is not from a Christian perspective, the focus is entirely on the penguins and telling their story. Morgan Freeman's warm, gentle voice is perfect for the narration and the filming and music are of the highest quality.

As I watched the fat, comical penguins waddle and slide about with their serious, yet secretly playful expressions, I was marveling at God's creation. He placed these awkwardly graceful creatures—part bird, part fish—at the bottom of the earth in a dazzlingly beautiful yet frigidly harsh environment. Every year they enact this drama, lining up and marching to the only place that will stay firm and safe all year. They go weeks at a time without food, huddle together to keep warm through winter storms, and keep each baby safe on their feet under a cozy flap of skin. And all this has been going on year after year with no one to watch. If God knows and loves every penguin in Antarctica (and why else would they be there?) how much more does He know and love us?