The film is seen as an argument against abortion and the unsuspecting Emperor penguin is the latest role model for American men
NEW YORK: Who would have thought a nature documentary shot in frozen Antarctica on Emperor penguins would waddle its way to a prime spot at the US box office, generate religious controversy and bring pro and anti-abortionists to fisticuffs?
French director Luc Jacquet's documentary is also the surprise blockbuster love story of the American summer. It captures the sacrifices Emperor penguins make to start a family.
After a courtship of several weeks, a female Emperor penguin lays a single egg, then leaves! Female Emperors take off toward the open sea to feed some 110 kilometres from the breeding ground. Where does that leave the eggs? At the feet, literally, of the male Emperor.
The penguin father balances the egg on his feet and warms it with his brood pouch. There he stands for 61 days through freezing temperatures and snowstorms without eating. After two months, the mother returns from the sea, bringing food for the by now hatched chick. Only when the mother returns does the hungry father make his own trek to the distant coast to get food.
"In the harshest place on Earth," Morgan Freeman intones in the penguin narrative, "love finds a way." Little do they know it, but the penguins have been hijacked by conservative Christians as a parable of family virtues.
The film is being seen as an argument against abortion and the unsuspecting Emperor penguin is the latest role model for American men. Penguins are among the few animal species that come close to divvying up gestation and infant care 50-50.
"There is something noble about the Emperor penguin staring down his white shirt-front at his unborn chick. He is such a gallant and caring father. The film captures the glory of God. We want young men and women to see the film," Reverend Peter Torres, a senior representative of America's evangelical Christians told DNA.
"If Emperor penguins can go to such lengths to protect their family why do people kill babies?" he thundered at women who contemplated a pregnancy termination. The influential religious TV show, the 700 Club, said this penguin movie would help people "appreciate Christian family values" and "shame" pro-aborts.
However, not everyone is convinced the Emperor penguin is a paragon of virtue. "These penguins get around. They switch mates with each new mating season, which makes for some pretty slutty birds," said Sheerly Avni in Internet magazine Alternet.org.
March of the Penguins has earned over $ 50 million, making it the second most successful documentary in US history, after Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore's take on President George W. Bush's war on terror.
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