Product Details

• Actors: Jan Aldenhoven, Glen Carruthers
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Acorn Media
• VHS Release Date: November 11, 1998
• Run Time: 58 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 1569381712
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,622 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Kangaroos is an engaging true story of life within one mob of wild Eastern Grey Kangaroos. For two years, award-winning Australian filmmakers Dr. Jan Aldenhoven and Glen Carruthers lived with this mob. Hear their compelling account of the world of these captivating marsupials where each has its own personality. Follow the destinies of two lovable joeys - a female named Sunshade whose mother is conscientious and successful, and Jaffa, a little male full of pluck and courage whose mother is absent-minded. And witness everything from birth to the dramatic and sometimes deadly battles between adult males. Never before has the richness and complexity of the kangaroo society and the daily drama of their family life been revealed in such stunning detail. Superbly photographed, this beautiful story of Australia's most famous animal will captivate you from beginning to end.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, personal, affecting documentary, February 14, 2001

By 

David Blume (Milpitas, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kangaroos: Faces in the Mob [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This documentary does a great job of remaining objective while following a family (a mob) of kangaroos. Focus centers on a few kangaroos which the narrator names (Jaffa, Sunshade, etc.). There's drama and we feel for the kangaroos, and it doesn't seem like the drama was artificially created. It really feels like a year in the life of a mob of kangaroos. It's the only documentary I've enjoyed enough to buy.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Beauty, Tragedy, Life, Death, and Love, May 24, 2010

By 

Emily Guilfoil - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kangaroos: Faces in the Mob [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Warning: This movie may strip young viewers of their innocence and forever alter their perception of mortality.

The intensity of this harrowing documentary made me laugh, made me cry, and it was an emotional roller-coaster. The gripping storytelling simultaneously captivates the viewer and disgusts the soul. This documentary is disguised as a coming-of-age classic, but in actuality it is the cruel depiction of a vibrant life cut too short. We follow a young, adventurous joey by the name of Jaffa from the miracle of his birth to the moment of his all-too-preventable death.

The juxtaposition of the wondrous landscape of the Australian outback to the tragic death of a child creates a sense of betrayal in the mind of the viewer. One feels as if the filmmakers deliberately desire to taunt their audience with the fate of the doomed joey.

We watch the separated mother and son search aimlessly for each other believing with all our heart and soul that the two will find their way back into each others arms. These dreams are mercilessly pummeled to ground and beaten to a pulp by the uncaring filmmakers. Would it have been so difficult for them to intervene in the situation and save the life this lonely, helpless child? Their actions are a travesty and embarrassment to anyone with a modicum of compassion and decency.

I would never recommend watching this documentary unless you are of the desire to see the most heart-wrenthingly morbid chronicle of existence known to mankind.