Customer Reviews

Genesis: Where Are We Coming From?

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We go out and buy the latest, coolest video monitors, plasma TV's, HD and widescreens, then what do we watch? Terrible sitcom TV programming, sports (ok, how many grassy helmets can we see in vivid XCU HDTV?), cartoons, and movies with enough car chases and explosions to bore Tarentino. NO LONGER!

Genesis is just amazing, as a date movie, for the kids (careful of the sex scenes though mom), and ESPECIALLY to take that new HD or widescreen technology for an awesome spin. The cinematography is just stunning, from close ups of the anglerfish eating a shrimp, to sky high views of Africa. Sure, it's been on cable on and off, but the DVD, although not the equivalent of movie quality due to compression, is still one of the most striking you'll ever add to your library. I've read that death counsellors are even showing this to terminal patients because it is such an "upper" about life in general, with hints at the continuity of consciousness.

The little bits of philosophy ("my atoms were a cloud in me and will become the wing of a butterfly" etc.) are non-denominational and not controversial. We've had friends over ranging in age from 14 to 60 and each one has raved about the "experience."

Grab this one for a real treat, or give it as a gift that will be appreciated for years. Why do we buy a dvd anyway? After a few viewings we can recite the script by heart. Just to give us another jewel case to dust? Not so here, the images keep adding new dimensions after multiple viewings. This is the kind of DVD that the media and monitors were made for!

This film is a wonderful experience through natures immagination.

Amazing visuals and great composition, BUT...

There is a lot of compression on the DVD. The picture could be better.

The worst part about it all is that they dubbed the french african narrator!! When I saw it at the theater they subtitled it, and it was a lot better. I don't understand the reasoning for this, but thats what you get.

I seriously suggest watching this film though - just too bad the DVD isn't as good.

I was apprehensive about showing this DVD to a sophomore biology class...how would they respond to dubbed English, and the device of an African storyteller linking wordless, though beautiful images, illustrating the diversity of life on earth?

The answer is that they were enthralled. After introducing it as a folkloric description of the origins of life, and emphasizing its represantation of the diversity of life, the students really enjoyed it. It provided a great visual lead in to a discussion on the characteristics and classification of life.

A wonderful supplement to - rather than replacement for - the essential PBS series on Evolution. (although you do need to pre-screen the Why Sex? DVD in that series for older students only - the bonobos, and the scientists who study them, are just a wee bit too enthusiastic about their going at it for sophomores in general intro bio!

Too bad amazon doesn't have a photo of this great DVD to accompany the listing for identification. Highly recommended!

This is a beautiful, bedazzling panorama of the evolution of life on this earth. We see what might have been the primordial chaos and fish rising from its vast waters and struggling onto land. We get a sense of the all the variety that has come from those first fateful flappings.

Most of the pictures are dedicated to the interactions of the "lower" animals - such as the amphibians, reptiles, and insects. Well, it would have been impossible to follow through and devote much time to all the mammals. So this movie is indeed more about beginnings.

I learned a new word from the DVD cover - the word "griot." I found that is an African storyteller, a person who perpetuates oral tradition. Such a griot is the narrator of this movie. And while I didn't really learn anything new about the development of life here, I felt privileged to be accompanying this movie's griot on his journey through time. He makes a much saner companion than Carlos Castaneda's famous "brujo" guide into and through the natural world.

We first saw this on Dish Network, and decided that we would like to own it so that we could easily share it with out grandchildren. It is beautifully organized; from the opening artwork that abstractly conveys the processes of life as it forms and grows to the final scene of the narrator leaving the forest, it is a superb treatment of fundamental characteristics of living things in accessible images and language. It has the feeling of poetry, while remaining true to the technical foundations of its subject matter.

My only problem with it is that I wish that I spoke enough French to be able to hear it in the narrator's language, rather than being aware of the lip-sync problems of dubbing into English. Fortunately, the material is such that its effect is not seriously impacted by the problem.

Length:: 3:12 Mins

Exotic animals of unimaginable beauty and grotesqueness, such as frilled lizards, panther chameleons, violin crabs, sea horses and various frogs and toads, make their entry into the world, scrambling for dominance and survival.

As extraordinary as all of this imagery is, it is the film's sound design that takes it to another level. A quirky, electric mix of ambient sound, effects and music by composer Bruno Coulais and sound designer Laurent Quaglio gives the film its heart and its sense of humor. The scratching of a crab's claws against rock is amplified to amusing effect. Surprising blurps and bleats turn into symphonic compositions only to revert back to dissonance as the action reaches a crescendo.

"Genesis" is a creationist's nightmare -- a feature-length endorsement of evolution. But it does so in an inherently spiritual manner. At times, the life through a microscope plainly blurs the line between man and animal.

In Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou's Genesis we are introduced to an African griot (Sotigui Kouyate) who tells in simple mythical language of the creation of the earth and the life upon it. This is a simple not scientific vision that will be quite appealing to younger audiences. The most impressive thing about this film is not the story, but rather the incredible images of nature. The film took six years to make. In the film we witness the birth of the cosmos, the planet fire, the planet ocean, the first living things that pulled themselves out of the water to walk upon the land, and finally the eventual coming of chaos or decay in which life loses its battle with time.

This is an amazing film to watch. The lower rating is not based on what is presented in the film but rather upon the fact that I had witnessed the BBC series Planet Earth before I saw this one. Planet Earth presents the ecosystems of the planet using much the same imagery. Genesis presents us with the birth of animal life instead. If there is a real problem with the film its that it is presented in a dubbed English version with no option for the subtitled French language track.

The film presented in the standard DVD format loos amazing eventhough it is letterboxed to fit my screen. The Dolby Stereo 2.0 adequately captures Bruno Coulais score. The edition features a trailer gallery and an image gallery.

While this may no longer be the greatest nature documentary made; that distinction now goes to Planet Earth it is well worth watching. Its imagery and story will appeal to a large audience and its simple message is both heartfelt and eloquent.

Rent it .

Outstanding scenes of nature, with exiting stories. very good to teach kids about nature's wonders.

This video is a keeper and a must-buy for your DVD collection. It spans the entire panorama of life from the inception. The vivid color and narration is mesmerizing.

An eloquent and profound depiction of how life, as we know it, began. It is a powerful response to intelligent design told with beautiful images and poetic language. It would be a welcome introduction to the school syllabus. My six year old is asking me how life began. This DVD explains it beautifully.