Customer Reviews

Kangaroos: Faces in the Mob [VHS]

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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.

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.