Microcosmos (Movie review)

Made by the same filmmaker as 'Bird Migration' but a few years older, Microcosmos is the kind of movie that reminds you that the world is full of miracles.The movie is set in a space no larger than a small field and, for many of the non-professional actors the course of a day is the span of their lives. The entire movie is about bugs.It's much more than a nature documentary - for one thing there is no narrative besides the instrumental music. We're never given the lists of the creatures names, nor their scientific import if any. The movie is about the lives of these creatures that exist in their thousands around us.Through the use of clever camera work, incredible filmography and a stunning music score, we're brought into this tiny world full of determined ants, erotic snails, ominous spiders and the magnificent conflict among beetles.Microcosmos is full of magnificent moments but among them all, I have to mention the love scene between the mating snails. With a lush Italian operatic love song as the mood music, the approach, seduction and culmination of the common garden snails' affair has an eroticism that transcends species barriers.The closing scene, of the adult mosquito hatching from it's nymph stage is like watching the birth of an angel - simply stunning. Which is how I'd describe the entire movie.It's a movie for families in the best meaning possible - it reminds adults of that fascination we all had, at one point or another, for the natural world around us. For children it gives them a 'bug-eyed' view of their own backyard. It's 'educational' in the best sense of the word, rekindling the joy of discovery that so many of us lose in the rush and strain of our daily lives. I can't recommend this movie highly enough for pretty much anyone, it's a joy to watch.By now, the movie is a few years old and likely to be easily available in libraries (probably only on video) as well as more eclectic video stores.