Product Details

• Actors: Ernst Haeckel, Marian Seldes, Corey Burton
• Directors: David Lebrun
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: FIRST RUN FEATURES
• DVD Release Date: September 16, 2008
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001B2U1B4
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,014 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

PROTEUS - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All creatures great & small, September 29, 2008

By 

Peter A. Savigny "silentg" (White Plains, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Proteus (DVD)

As an avid fan of sequenced graphics used to animate a story-line, this 20 year labor of love tells the tale of the radiolarian discovered(?) and lavishly illustrated (4000 drawings) by Ernst Haeckel. As fantastic as the story is in describing the effect that this single-celled organism had on the world of its time, it is the behind the scenes making-of by the director that reveals a dedicated researcher and phenomenally patient compositor. I started my career in animation & then computer graphics some 20 years ago, and know full well the tedium that single frame animation places on the animator prior to computer aided pieces. Add to that a fabulous and captivating story, plus brilliant displays of this unique and unequaled protozoan, and the viewer will be transported to a time where discoveries opened the minds and hearts of a curious population. A must see.

Please buy this and do not try to download it for free anywhere. The effort that went in to producing this by the solo editor, writer, animator should be aptly rewarded with as much capital as possible.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cabinet of Curiosities, May 4, 2009

By 

Gerard D. Launay (Berkeley, California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Proteus (DVD)

This movie could only be made because two individuals made it their mission to do the impossible. First, we have Ernst Haeckel, the zoologist, who became fascinated by the symmetrical structure of single celled organisms and discovered thousands of new species. Then he undertook the Herculean task of drawing all these different types that he viewed under his microscope. Then we have the filmmaker who decided to painstakingly photograph a thousand of these wonderful drawings of nature, turn them into animation cells, and produce a kaleidoscopic visual feast of their nearly infinite variety.

The first task was completed in about a decade...the second task two decades. So the final product is simply astonishing. Along with the visuals of these extraordinary protozoan structures is a biography of Ernst Haeckel himself and the relationship of his scientific journey to the metaphysical journey of Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his poem of the "Ancient Mariner."

Consider this a unique DVD - nothing like it has ever been made and will be made.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Multidisciplinary Documentary, July 24, 2010

By 

Dr. Debra Jan Bibel "World Music Explorer" (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Proteus (DVD)

Despite my extensive studies of mid 19th-century biology, wherein Ernst Haeckel was often mentioned, I knew very little about his life and philosophy. Thus, this 60-minute documentary was revelatory. The film ably presents the religio-philosophical background of natural science at the time and the various discoveries that had begun to challenge and change this perspective. Art, science, technology, and religion weave in and out and merge, making the film unusually multidisciplinary. The use of contemporary illustrations--photographs, watercolors, and etchings--provides a feeling of the novelty and excitement of Haeckel's explorations and discoveries. The radiolaria crystalline skeletons of such great variety, like snowflakes, are fascinating, especially when viewed as a rapid animated series. The later expansion of Haeckel's worldview, grounded in Spinoza and Goethe, is evidenced by his later treatises and landscape paintings from his many world travels. The film was a 20-year project of David Lebrun; his labors in cinematography in an era before electronic graphics, as explained in bonus features, are itself extraordinary, as much a technological divide as an old manual typewriter and 'white-out' versus modern computerized wordprocessing. A cohesive soundtrack was provided by composer Yuval Ron plus sound effects. Thus, the film is a worthwhile though esoteric documentary. For a related book, see: "Exploring the Invisible. Art, science, and the spiritual" by Lynn Gamwell.