Vogelperspektiven (2023) – 3/5

Bird is the word

„Vogelperspektiven“ is a new German documentary movie from 2023 and I got to watch this one last night and here I would like to share my thoughts on the outcome. We will look at some of the basics first though. The literal translation of its title is „bird perspectives“ and I cannot say anything about international titles because it will last quite a while until this movie probably gets release in countries outside Germany, although Austria and Switzerland perhaps will not take that long. The director is prolific filmmaker Jörg Adolph who, according to imdb, started shooting films in the first year of the new millennium, which means that he has been part of the industry now for over 20 years and if it takes you a little longer to get here and read this review of mine, then actually it may already over a quarter of a century then. Not too long anymore. Adolph is an award-winning filmmaker who usually also writes the scripts for the films he directs. He was born in 1967, so he is not too old actually and many more films could follow. Most likely, these are documentaries, many of them nature-themed as his previous film elaborated on trees, as well as this is what he has been doing for his entire career. No live action films, even if you can say that it is always possible that some of the contents you hear in here was indeed scripted.

I think the aforementioned release in Austria and Switzerland is also possible because this movie here is set in the southern regions of Germany, namely in Bavaria. You see that already through the name of the organization at the center of it all, but also through the inclusion of Markus Söder and I think I do not have to say who he is. Germans will know, all others can look him up. I can say what he is though, namely really ruthless and despicable. It’s nice to not live in Bavaria alone for the fact that this way I am not governed by him. Not that the Berlin leaders are really any better, but that is another story. This movie runs for minimally over 105 minutes and that surprised me a bit that it is not a 1.5-hour film and this is often the preferred choice for documentaries here in Germany, especially nature documentaries, but then again with theatrical releases like this one here, it is not a given at all, so also not a huge surprise. The title gives away that birds are at the center of the story here and that includes all kinds of birds, but not really birds only. At the very beginning there is a brief inclusion of bats, a specific subspecies, and we are told that bats are really not dangerous at all. Their reputation surely suffered during the pandemic lately with many people suggesting that bats are the origin of the Corona virus. But as the protagonist of this film says (I think it was him), you could actually eat bats and would not get infected with anything. Anyway, those were the only non-birds featured in here.

Afterwards, we find out about cuckoos, vultures, tits, eagles, smaller penguin lookalikes (don’t remember the exact name), owls and many other birds. I think owls are especially cool, they may be my favorites from the bunch, but the major focus, especially towards the end then is on the two female vultures from Spain it was I think who got taken to Bavaria because they want to repopulate the species there. Sadly, we also find out that one of them did not make it and had died, but the other seems to be alright still. Good to read. They also say that this subspecies of vultures was once much more common Bavaria, but they got hunted and killed and even if those are not shot anymore nowadays, we understand that lead can be deadly for them nonetheless if it gets into their bodies through other animals. We also find out that birds are not exactly appreciated in Malta. I liked one shot especially, namely when we see the typical yellow sign that the area shown that very moment is a protected nature area and somebody wrote on the sign with a pen that the entire world is a protected nature area (not sure this is the correct term, but you get what I mean here). Or at least that it should be one and I could not agree more. Sadly, the people fighting for it in this movie here are really not fitting for the job on some occasions. Just take the inclusion of gender-appropriate language on at least one occasion. As long as people will focus on this instead of concentrating on the actual issues, then all hope is lost.

Here and there, the film also became a bit of a climate change propaganda film which I am not too fond of at all. They should instead focus on the actual subject more. The ending was especially horrible when we have one kid, female I think, scream a few words at a climate change gathering where they were protesting against the current politics, which in theory is not bad, but actually your enemy’s enemies are not automatically your friends and they are just as wrong as the reigning politicians, just for other reasons. Their traffic blocking measures are a complete abomination and they deserve the harshest punishment for this. Anyway, I drifted slightly away from the movie, but now I will go back to it: These inclusions make it difficult for me to give a thumbs-up here, especially the inclusion of the war-mongering Grünen party (Bündnis 90) that are literally the opposite now of what they once stood for. Impossible to give them your vote if you have a conscience. At least, the protagonist of this documentary said during his speech that he is not affiliated with any party, but then again his presence there is fairly telling. What else can I say? I am really generous with the rating here, simply because I like birds, actually almost all other animals as well and I do agree that they need to be protected and the fact how many bird species went extinct in Germany at least is shocking and fully agree with the guy there. His parallel or analogy with the company going back to 50% of its efficiency or making 50% of the money it made many years ago is also telling enough. No company could survive this way and our nature environment deserves to be treated better. So yeah, if you get the chance to see this film, then go for it.

At the beginning of my review, I stated that this one is probably not really soon being released in non-German speaking countries already because the focus is just on German animals and species here mostly, but if it will be, then give it a chance. I also hope you get a better narrator then. The woman was just awful at times and so was the writing. I mean just look at the moments in which we hear a quote from some influential person/male and a male voice gives is the words and then the woman says „said person xy, profession“. That was so amateurish. The information shown on the screen at times weren’t any better. The story about the cancerous woman who dedicated her life to seeing as many birds as possible was fine, but did not really have much of a connection to the rest of the movie except that it was about birds too. The narrator there was also unbearable. In the end then, after the closing credits in fact you see the logos of several German television channels, exactly those that are despicable to force people to pay money for their programs, even if they do not watch them, to use this money, millions and millions of extortion money (sounds more accurate than „compulsory charge“) for trashy productions (*cough* „Der Schwarm“ *cough* the swarm/flock of birds we see in here on one occasion is far more memorable and will always remind me of „True Detective“) and stupid Degeto romance nonsense. No excuse there. These television stations deserve all the worst coming their way. Admittedly, the birds in here don’t. They deserve the opposite and that is the only reason why I ignore the mainstream propaganda for a second and give the outcome here a positive recommendation, even if it is far from flawless.