We’ve already seen a baby polar bear (albeit with an ill-advised first name) sharing the cover of Vanity Fair with Leonardo DiCaprio, but now the endangered Arctic beasts are taking to the silver screen in the battle against global warming.
Arctic Tale, a new movie from the people behind March of the Penguins, depicts the lives of a female polar bear cub, Nanu, and a female walrus calf, Seela, from birth to parenthood.
The characters, composites of animals filmed in the Arctic over 10 years, face increasingly difficult challenges to survive owing to the increasing temperatures in the North Pole.
Narrated by singer and actress Queen Latifah, Arctic Tale shows Nanu’s bear family and Seela’s walrus herd clinging to shrinking ice floes. The bears struggle to find food when the pack ice on which they hunt returns too late after summer. Both species take refuge on a rock island, where walruses become an ever more frequent prey for the much smaller polar bears.
“There was a time where we were discussing, should we address climate change or shouldn’t we, and we felt a responsibility,” said Adam Ravetch, who directed the film with his wife, Sarah Robertson.
The labour of love project is entirely made up from footage gathered during the two or three days a month that were suitable for filming, Ravetch said. “Everything you see in the film, we observed. It is also backed up by scientific facts.”
Thankfully, the movie is not all doom and gloom and also shows the lighter side of Arctic life. In one scene, there is a resounding chorus of walrus flatulence, brought on by days of gorging at a clam bed.
The movie, whose screenwriters included Al Gore’s daughter, Kristin, is set to open in the UK on 17th August.
Click here for movie trailer
