Last of the Longnecks
Reviews by Paul Preston
Welcome to Today I Watched…, a series of posts documenting my new challenge – watch a movie a day for the rest of my life. Keep coming back to TheMovieGuys.net to find out what I watch each day…and get my take on it.
When I see a movie that’s a new release in theaters or on demand, I’ll give it a proper review in the “Reviews” or “Home Viewing”, otherwise, I’ll write about it here.
June 20, 2017 – Dream
Dream is the award-winning short from The Wildlife Conservation Film Festival that’s set to the Les Misérables song “I Dreamed a Dream”. It begins with animals like a pelican, rhino and whale singing the song while frolicking and raising their families in the untouched, beautiful waters and fields of the Earth. What happens next is the intrusion of man – oil refineries and poachers, for example. By the end, the short shows the effects of man’s greed and irresponsibility to the animals and world around him. It’s pretty heavy.
In fact, it’s a little too heavy-handed. You feel like SHIT when this short ends. No doubt that is supposed to be the effect, that it’s not pretty, that it’s ugly and brutal and overall preventable. Well, mission: accomplished, Dream, but just know that if you watch it, you’re not in for a pleasant experience. So, with that, here it is:
Dream – WCFF from Zombie Studio on Vimeo.
June 21, 2017 – Last of the Longnecks
Dream played with Last of the Longnecks at an awareness and fundraising night for the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival at Malibu Wines along the pacific coast. It was an outdoor screening that featured an introduction by myself and David Brown, a giraffe expert featured in the film. These films are a good pairing because Longnecks profiles the great animal of Africa but at the same time is warning of their diminishing population. However, Longnecks isn’t as hit-you-over-the-head about it. You can enjoy the film and get the point.
50% of giraffes have disappeared in the last twenty years. Yes, that beautiful animal that you probably know most from those Madagascar movies, is on his way out. But there’s hope in the birth of two twin giraffes in 2013 and people like Anne Dagg, who talk smart and bluntly about these “gentle giants” in the film. The movie also smartly goes into great detail about the build (there are multiple subspecies) and habits of the giraffe, so you can understand what they’re all about and why they’re so special.
It’s a bit dry now and then, as documentaries can get, but there are enough sets of conservationists trying to save the giraffes that the cutting back and forth between them (and the different methods they employ to rescue giraffes) keeps the pace up. Good docs teach you something, and this one goes a long way to be enlightening. You hear about elephants and rhinos falling victim to poachers, but the giraffe is in danger, too. And if you leave being more in the know of that awful fact, good on you, doc.
Directed by: Ashley Scott Davison
Release Date: May 21, 2017
Run Time: 92 Minutes
Country: USA
Distributor: Iniosante
