Review-ish Thoughts: The Riot & The Dance
First off, I liked The Riot & The Dance, a nature documentary. It had a sense of humor, which most documentaries don't. I don't mean that you don't find humor in the films themselves, else why would we see so many shots of baby animals? They're funny, that's why. But usually the creators themselves don't have much humor about them. Reverence, yes. Awe, yes. Beauty, yes. An urgent message, yes. Sometimes Sir Richard Attenborough starts to sound tired telling the same story again and again, with different factoids, dragged down with the weight of saving the universe in its entirety.
Dr. Gordon Wilson is quite taking with his gentle humor and enthusiasm for some of the more homely and despised members of the animal kingdom. I took his biology course plus some electives in college and all the things I liked best about him are present in the film. He's persistent, patient, careful of speech, and slyly provocative.
I don't know where Dr. Wilson's words began and his nephew's ended (author N.D. "Nate" Wilson), but I suspect that Nate wrote the majority. I much prefer Dr. Wilson's simpler style. I did not really care for N.D. Notes from a Tilt-a-Whirl. Oddly, I found the movie got a little too preachy. And like it was talking to ten-year-olds. We kept being told: Watch. See. Look. I am watching! I was expecting something more Attenborough-esque, just with references to Yahweh instead of evolution and a coda of praise to God rather than appeal to climate change. Attenborough also tends to a more restrained style. His wonderful voice isn't his only characteristic. Really, I had very high expectations because of my acquaintance with the creators.
Dr. Wilson points out that often touching the animals is frowned upon in this field. His endearing willingness to handle toads with neurotoxin-secreting goop sets this documentary apart. Natural history museums, aquariums, and zoos don't give the same experience as seeing a lizard on a man's hand for scale, with the camera zoomed in tight on its distinctive patterns -- while the image is blown up on the big screen. Rarely do you get to see a handbreadth-sized animal many times your size. He does address conservation and what place dangerous (especially poisonous) animals have in the redeemed world.
The first half was too short. The second half was rather awkward. As soon as we saw the Wilson kin conversing in a cabin or woodshed, my husband leaned over to me: "this seems to be a trend in Christian movies." We can't just leave it alone, we have to have an explanation at the end. (E.g. Monumental and Insanity of God.) Most of the interviews could have been incorporated into the documentary itself or would have served the film better by having footage overlaid the person talking. Ken Ham, Propaganda, and Eric Metaxas are all captivating speakers but I found myself impatient. When Nate started talking about his creative process and his novels, I felt several involuntary inward eye rolls. First half gets 4/5 (I'll watch it again); second half maybe 3/5.
But it ended well: "Prop" got the last word, rhapsodizing about civet coffee. It was delightful.
Dr. Gordon Wilson is quite taking with his gentle humor and enthusiasm for some of the more homely and despised members of the animal kingdom. I took his biology course plus some electives in college and all the things I liked best about him are present in the film. He's persistent, patient, careful of speech, and slyly provocative.
I don't know where Dr. Wilson's words began and his nephew's ended (author N.D. "Nate" Wilson), but I suspect that Nate wrote the majority. I much prefer Dr. Wilson's simpler style. I did not really care for N.D. Notes from a Tilt-a-Whirl. Oddly, I found the movie got a little too preachy. And like it was talking to ten-year-olds. We kept being told: Watch. See. Look. I am watching! I was expecting something more Attenborough-esque, just with references to Yahweh instead of evolution and a coda of praise to God rather than appeal to climate change. Attenborough also tends to a more restrained style. His wonderful voice isn't his only characteristic. Really, I had very high expectations because of my acquaintance with the creators.
Dr. Wilson points out that often touching the animals is frowned upon in this field. His endearing willingness to handle toads with neurotoxin-secreting goop sets this documentary apart. Natural history museums, aquariums, and zoos don't give the same experience as seeing a lizard on a man's hand for scale, with the camera zoomed in tight on its distinctive patterns -- while the image is blown up on the big screen. Rarely do you get to see a handbreadth-sized animal many times your size. He does address conservation and what place dangerous (especially poisonous) animals have in the redeemed world.
The first half was too short. The second half was rather awkward. As soon as we saw the Wilson kin conversing in a cabin or woodshed, my husband leaned over to me: "this seems to be a trend in Christian movies." We can't just leave it alone, we have to have an explanation at the end. (E.g. Monumental and Insanity of God.) Most of the interviews could have been incorporated into the documentary itself or would have served the film better by having footage overlaid the person talking. Ken Ham, Propaganda, and Eric Metaxas are all captivating speakers but I found myself impatient. When Nate started talking about his creative process and his novels, I felt several involuntary inward eye rolls. First half gets 4/5 (I'll watch it again); second half maybe 3/5.
But it ended well: "Prop" got the last word, rhapsodizing about civet coffee. It was delightful.
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