Page 21 - PGA Community News - December '23

December 2023
December 2023 BW PGA C.A.N.!, Page 21
Film Review:

Life On Our Planet: A Nature Documentary Series

By Nils A. Shapiro that pleasure and invite you we watch as a combination of computer graphics (for past
This is the first time in more than 200 film review columns to share it with me. events) and current videography depict a panorama of life:
that I have decided to bring to your attention not a single feature Life on Our Planet is a lichen breaks down rock to make the first soil; plants; insects;
film but, instead, a documentary series—in this case eight one- sweeping saga covering the reptiles; amphibians; dinosaurs; birds, mammals hunt and are
hour episodes executive produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin 500 million years of Earth’s hunted. We learn that the rules of adaptation take place because
Entertainment and introduced in late October on Netflix. history, beginning with the of the need for survival against such events as: the asteroid
It is not an exaggeration on my part when I state that none very first life forms, and that struck our planet causing the first of five mass extinctions
of the enormously successful motion pictures created by Steven over the course of this series and destroying almost all life on Earth; the waves of massive
Spielberg has impressed me more than this documentary series, making clear the constant volcanic eruptions, ice ages, global warmings, and worldwide
nor have I enjoyed any more than this—and I have been a big adaptations needed for flooding that broke up the planet’s single Pangaea land mass
fan of his for years. survival. into the oceans-separated continents we live in today.
Perhaps it is my ongoing insatiable thirst, in my retirement As the history unfolds, a Not only are we introduced to much that will be new to
years, to learn as much as possible about the natural world and timeline across the bottom of the readers of this column, but the visual impact is nothing
the creatures with whom we share it, that has affected my view the screen keeps the viewer short of breathtaking. I noted later that one reviewer referred
of this series—readers of my Book Review column know that informed of the period in which the action is taking place. to the “cinematography and special effects” as being “nearly
this carries over to my reading tastes—but if so I welcome Guided by the mellifluous voice of narrator Morgan Freeman, indistinguishable.” It is true that the scenes taking place 500
million years ago look as though they are being photographed
… which is what took my breath away when I began to watch
LET US HELP YOU the first episode.
That is what attracted me instantly to this series. I had

already watched a feature film with my wife after dinner in
Ship Your Valuable Packages & Furniture my usual search for one deserving of a review in this column.
(I usually have to watch a dozen or so before finding one
worth writing about every month.)
But at 10 p.m., before turning off our TV I happened
• CLOTHING • SCULPTURES • CUSTOM PACKING AND CRATING to notice the Life on Our Planet documentary. I never get
• DISHES • ARTWORK • ESTATES PACKING AND involved with series because, with my busy schedule—Editor
of Boca Club News, reading a book every month for my
• ANTIQUES • COMPUTERS SHIPPING Book Review column, watching a film most nights to find
• FURNISHINGS • FURNITURE SHIPPING • BOXES AND PACKING SUPPLIES one deserving of my Film Review column, devoting time to
my wife as a (hopefully) good husband, etc.—I have no time
to get hooked on a TV series.
However, the subject of this one appealed to me, so I figured
WE PACK AND FREE I would spend a few minutes with it. Three hours and three
SHIP WITH TLC PICK UP AT YOUR episodes later, at 1 a.m., I finally managed to get to sleep—and
even then I could not get this series off my mind. I watched
LOCATION episode four the following night.
Each of the eight episodes covers both the planet’s
early history and remarkable photography showing present
examples of the points being made in that episode. For
example, in the first episode, “The Rules of Life,” a discussion
of adaptation for survival depicts, among other action, a
Tyrannosaurus and her offspring hunting a Triceratops.
Later, videos include plants as predators today competing for
space in a crowded forest, and then as prey forced to defend
themselves against caterpillars that feed on it.
This series is so packed with information that it is not until
Episode 5, “In the Shadow of Giants,” that we enter the Jurassic
Dishes, Glasses, Furniture Age made so popular by the hit Jurassic Park motion pictures.

By the time today’s viewers have experienced the final
Copies, Fax Service, Notary, US Mail, Stamps three episodes—“Out of the Ashes,” “Inheriting the Earth”
and “Age of Ice and Fire”—one thing will be clear. While
it is impossible to remember the encyclopedic range of facts
presented about the many creatures and other life forms we
meet on our 500-million-year journey, the stunning creative
imagery of Steven Spielberg’s production will burn in your
memory long afterward.
Most important is the lesson of this series for all of us:
that those who forget, or ignore, history are doomed to repeat
it. We live on a planet that has undergone wave after wave of
Phone: 561-799-3900 cataclysmic environmental cycles already resulting five times
10130 Northlake Blvd. #214 in the extinction of almost all life on Earth. Now that we have

West Palm Beach, FL. 33412 Fax: 561-799-3905 reached a significant level of knowledge and science that
enables us to at least mitigate the dangers of climate change,
Cell: 561-598-4413 our individual reaction to the hard reality of our planet’s
current crisis answers the question about whether each of us
Ask For Jean or Joseph has learned that lesson.

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