MOVIE · 2005

March of the Penguins

DocumentaryFamily80 min

Each year in Antarctica, emperor penguins leave the sea and march deep inland to breed, crossing miles of ice before the polar winter closes around them. Luc Jacquet’s documentary follows that annual cycle from courtship to hatching, as parents take turns balancing a single egg on their feet, sheltering it from the cold, and making punishing trips back to the ocean for food. The film stays close to the colony’s routines and dangers — blizzards, hunger, and predators — while tracking the fragile handoff that keeps each chick alive. Morgan Freeman narrates the English-language version; the original French release features voices from Romane Bohringer and Charles Berling.