Dziobem I Pazurem
Poland,
2002, 53 min
Shown in 2003
CREDITS
- dir
-
Krystian Matysek
- scr
-
Krystian Matysek
- cam
-
Krystian Matysek
- editor
-
Jaroslaw Barzan
- mus
-
Joanna Badelek
- source
-
TVP SA, 17 J. P. Woronicza Str., Warsaw 00-999, Poland. FAX: 48-22-547-8070. EMAIL: festivals@tvp.pl.
- premiere
-
North American Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Krystian Matysek in person.
OTHER
Not as bloody as Hitchcock’s The Birds but just as suspenseful—replete with quick cross-cutting and staccato violins shrieking on the soundtrack—this documentary tracks with soaring camerawork the perilous journeys undertaken by buzzards, crows, cranes, eagles and other high flyers throughout northeastern Poland. Within this little-seen region of forested landscapes and dramatic seasonal shifts, native species fight and take flight for their place in the pecking order, enacting rituals of perilous birth, feathery flirtation, domestic nesting and Darwinian survival. Viewers accustomed to cute chicks like Tweety and chattering Pollys who are content with a cracker will be shocked by the rapacity with which these ravens and grouses go at each other. Filmed over the course of three years, filled with literal bird’s-eye views and tactile natural details—the creak of a tree trunk in strong wind, the impact of a single raindrop on the ecosystem—With Beak and Claw eschews Croc-Hunter hijinks and didactic narration in favor of unfettered imagery. By the way, the early bird does indeed get the worm.
—Steven Jenkins
FACTOID #81
Anjelica Huston was the first recipient of the Piper-Heidsieck Award in 1991. When Huston received the prize from the champagne maker, she joked, “Can I drink it?”
