As I’ve mentioned, I’m currently participating in the WordCount Blogathon. So far so good; I’ve posted every day. Today all the participants were given a prompt to write from, which I think is pretty cool: five movies that have influenced your blogging. What a great question. Here are my five…
Winged Migration–I grew up in northern Ohio, and I can remember standing outside on cold fall mornings waiting to catch the bus and watching flocks of migrating Canada geese swoop down and land in my grandparents’ pond next door without ever breaking formation. Even then, I was fascinated by migration and the mysterious pull that drives these animals to travel hundreds of miles every year. Winged Migration, of course, captures this most fascinating animal behavior in a lovely and artful way. Watching it made me feel like a kid again. (Great Migrations, narrated by the best voice in American film, Alec Baldwin, is also an awesome migration documentary.)
Planet Earth–Matt got the DVD collection of this television series for Christmas a few years ago, and after driving all night from a family vacation to Dry Tortugas over New Year’s, we watched the whole series in one sitting because we were too tired to do anything else and, of course, because they’re so beautiful. The movies themselves are wonderful because they show you the world and many of the shots were filmed from a small aircraft that hovered quietly over the animals without scaring them away like a helicopter would.
Super Croc–This is a National Geographic documentary about prehistoric crocodilians. (I’m a sucker for National Geographic!) If watching computer-animated giant alligator ancestors isn’t awesome enough, the tagline is the real kicker: “It didn’t walk with dinosaurs…it ate them.” Nothing I can add will make this movie sound more Chuck Norris than that.
The Last Mountain–I love West Virginia; it is like home to me. And so of all the documentaries about the injustices committed by large corporations, The Last Mountain, in particular, outrages me. (Gasland and Tapped are also good ones in this genre.) But these movies also remind me of the importance of journalism and documentary film and always asking questions.
Out of Africa–This is such a good movie, one of my favorites ever. I can remember watching it over and over when I was young and loving everything about it: Meryl Streep, young Robert Redford, Africa, the clothes, the hats, Limoges, coffee farming, rain, trains, Isak Dinesen, everything. I was, of course, as devastated as Denys when he flew over the plains and saw traces of man’s disturbances marring the African landscape.
So there you have it–five films that have influenced my writing. Obviously I’m a nonfiction person. What films have influenced you? Please share.
