The Life of Mammals
The Life of Mammals
TV-G | 20 November 2002 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES
  • 1
  • 0
  • Reviews
    Actuakers One of my all time favorites.
    Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
    Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
    Madilyn Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
    Dylan-Potter The reason this is the best is because it covers the mammal world. Our world, and therefore it is fascinating. It starts with monotremes and marsupials, in an episode all about Australian animals and some others from the Americas. This is a great idea as it establishes mammals and gets the ones different to normal mammals covered and out of the way. Then is the insect eater episode. This episode isn't perfect, it's charm lies within the fact that they are covered in a way never before covered. It probably was the first hedgehog sex scene ever filmed, the first to show anteaters and armadillos eat food up close, possibly the best bit is the bat scene. Then are plant eaters, which never interested me, but they find it hard to bore me in this. The African elephant scene, the scene with the plant eater's method of escape and fighting, which excited me. After is the story of rodents. Here they aren't presented as annoying little rats, but complex, amazing creatures. But then comes the best 4 Attenborough episodes. The thrilling meat eater adventure. The story of the contradiction-filled omnivores, the aquatic action of Return to the Water (possibly that's biased by my love of being underwater) and the Attenborough peak-Life in the Trees, the story of mammals who enjoy the high-life. The penultimate episode focuses on monkeys, cute, fascinating and funny. But the finale is truly mind- blowing. This series is like Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan. Starts with powerful stuff, an enjoyable middle, the exciting peak near the finale, the modest penultimate song. And then Food For Thought, the Desolation Row of documentaries. Reveals suffering humans cause on others. Starts with no problem against humanity, and then suddenly reveals the powerful humanity that causes so much suffering. The haunting message is truly done in a powerful method. David Attenborough is at his peak in this mind-blowing series, very exciting, and done like no other documentary.
    machngunjoe For me, who watches quite a bit of these kind of shows, Sir David Attenbourgh does no wrong. Always are his documentaries knowledgeable, entertaining, and certainly insightful. This particular Attenbourgh documentary on mammals was the most profound.Keeping in mind that we humans are apart of the mammalian family there are certainly interesting moments in this series.I don't won't to give anything away as every segment is fully entertaining.Those of you whom have seen other "Life of" series; then you know what to expect. However as the series moves toward Human Beings near the end in David Attenbourgh's food for thought, for which the last chapter is called, he poses a most profound question that can only sink in ones mind, perhaps only for a little while for some. But the so seemingly simplistic way in which explains why some species are the way they are, coupled with the seriousness...how things are the way they are today, which is posed in his final thought; makes the Life of Mammals one of the best documentary films I've ever seen.For those of you whom have never seen any nature shows at all, or are reduced to some lesser ones that play on TV today...well give this one a try.
    buzonpedro I remember when I was a child seeing David Attenborugh BBc documentaries , fascinated sitting in my sofa.This is another excellent new Attenborough documentary, I am surprised not to find more comments about Attenborough BBC films. It's a different style, it's other kind of TV, it's closer to art, or novels. It's simple. artistic and deep It's artistic and abstract, changes themes and the plot of the screenplay looking for a different wildlife overviews.It is a musical and complex docu film and very simple too, uses the scientist concepts and artistic wonderful language which every can understand and gets quickly people attention. I am worried about not to find 10000 votes, I expected to find perhaps not less than 1000 IMDb votes. On other hand I have a question for anybody who read this comment ¿ are Yang Tse dolphins who appear in one of this episodes? I am very sad to listen that could be almost extinct.
    konky2000 This giant documentary series is quite simply astounding. The 10 part series should stand as one of the most exhaustive filmed studies of mammals ever made. And, yes, the film covers the most wide spread mammal of all -- humans.What sets this film apart from all others are the messages the film is trying to convey. It is not content with simply showing us animals in action, but at every turn tries to make us realize the place the animals shown play in relation to our own mammal species -- homo sapiens.In the first few episodes, this message is not so clear, because the focus is on small mammals like anteaters and beavers. Gradually, though, the film focuses on primates and ends with two hour long episodes about monkeys and apes that are at the same time moving and deeply disturbing.Some of the footage of chimpanzees is so violent and disturbing it makes you look at humans in a whole new light.Throughout is footage that is completely unique. Some of the footage captures images never seen before by anybody. Some of it shows us things not normally shown before. Every show was filled with facts and information that I had never heard before and by the end I felt enriched beyond belief.Finally, I would like to point out that this film stands as one of the greatest proofs of evolution I have ever seen. Although the film never comes right out and specifically talks about evolution, it is a subtext throughout the 10 part series. Not that I didn't believe in evolution before I watched this, but after watching this the mechanics of evolution are so clear that I would be amazed anybody watches this series and is still skeptical enough to consider evolution a 'theory.'It is a great piece of documentary film-making. I hope that all homo sapiens get a chance to see this film.