Billy Cox
8th July 2007, 03:42 PM (15:42)
This is a documentary about a flock of wild parrots that lives in San Francisco, California and a homeless man who finds meaning in becoming acquainted with the flock of parrots; feeding them and taking care of ill birds.
We got this movie from NetFlix because we own a parakeet and so my daughter wanted to see the movie about wild parrots.
As one might expect, a person with nothing but time on his hands could become very knowledgable about any given subject and the behavior of parrots is no exception. This aspect reminded me of the movie 'The Birdman of Alcatraz.' In fact, the closing shot of the movie shows Alcatraz in the distance as viewed from the parrots' habitat.
One of the most interesting parts of the story is about a parrot named Connor, a blue-crowned parrot living in a community of red-crowned parrots. Just as losers and non-losers alike relate to Charlie Brown in the 'Peanuts' comic strip, the viewer relates to Connor. The other parrots tolerate Connor's presence, but he is obviously an oddball rendered a misfit by a seemingly minor difference. The homeless man in the film obviously sees Connor as a metaphor for his own existence.
Although the main human character is homeless, this is not a homeless advocate sympathy movie. The main subject of the film is a flock of parrots, but it is far from advocating the political positions of animal rights or environmentalism. Interestingly, animal rights groups and environmentalists could care less about the wild parrots because they are a non-native species - akin to garbage with wings.
I enjoyed this film and I highly recommend it. The film has enough parrot footage to keep my 8 year-old daughter interested, but enough human interest to set this film apart from a nature show.
We got this movie from NetFlix because we own a parakeet and so my daughter wanted to see the movie about wild parrots.
As one might expect, a person with nothing but time on his hands could become very knowledgable about any given subject and the behavior of parrots is no exception. This aspect reminded me of the movie 'The Birdman of Alcatraz.' In fact, the closing shot of the movie shows Alcatraz in the distance as viewed from the parrots' habitat.
One of the most interesting parts of the story is about a parrot named Connor, a blue-crowned parrot living in a community of red-crowned parrots. Just as losers and non-losers alike relate to Charlie Brown in the 'Peanuts' comic strip, the viewer relates to Connor. The other parrots tolerate Connor's presence, but he is obviously an oddball rendered a misfit by a seemingly minor difference. The homeless man in the film obviously sees Connor as a metaphor for his own existence.
Although the main human character is homeless, this is not a homeless advocate sympathy movie. The main subject of the film is a flock of parrots, but it is far from advocating the political positions of animal rights or environmentalism. Interestingly, animal rights groups and environmentalists could care less about the wild parrots because they are a non-native species - akin to garbage with wings.
I enjoyed this film and I highly recommend it. The film has enough parrot footage to keep my 8 year-old daughter interested, but enough human interest to set this film apart from a nature show.