So far as I can see, there's no clearly most appropriate place for this to go, so will put it here due to its personal nature.
Sometimes you just want to be held. Today was like that for me.
After following all day the course of Hurricane Katrina and imagining scenarios of fear, horror, and irrevocable regret for not having left, I won't know the final outcomes until another day. Lives were lost.
Tonite, I went to see the film March of the Penguins, "aided by funding from National Geographic Feature Films," and with French director, Luc Jacquet. The written description notes that, "The film's remarkable story is narrated by Morgan Freeman, whose dignified voice gives the penguins the grave admiration they deserve." The film elucidates the simple complexities and the complex simplicity of penguins' lives, their inherent commitment to life and survival, and their belief-defying, awe-commanding timing and orchestration of rituals that have been repeated for centuries.
Yes, Morgan's voice reenforces the grave admiration they deserve. The film was beautiful. Leonard's voice, however, would have done that with equal dignity; and his perfectly nuanced voice would have conveyed the profound, moving importance and fragility of life; the sense of warmth and love between adult penguins, and their seeming tenderness for each other and their offspring; the inevitability of loss to the elements and predators; the mourning of mothers, as their offspring succumb; the abandonment young penguins feel with separation from their mothers; the sadness of unpreventable death; the inherent humour in animal behaviours; and the feeling that this remarkably amazing process will continue into eternity, as long as humans can allow the precious environment to survive. I kept 'seeing' the dark, underwater billowing of an oil spill or insidious, chemical pollution reaching far into the freezing cold waters; and wondering if or when the magic of their lives will forever be interrupted. Leonard's voice would have imbued the film, even moreso, with poignancy; and, for some, his compassionate voice would have been suggestive of the essential role of humans in the ensurance that these rituals will continue. The footage itself allowed for these feelings; yet, as I watched, I imagined Leonard's voice narrating; and how deeply, subtly, and tightly interwoven the results would have been.
Not being in intimate relationship with another human being makes the occasional days like today difficult.
Goodnite.
~ Elizabeth
. Yes, I found myself praying for the survival of penguins as I watched.