Directed by Ed Sayers, a collaboration between 25 countries to capture wildlife across the planet on Super 8 cameras, exploring ideas of connecting with nature, considering what we have and all we have to lose.
You are very much welcomed into the world of Super Nature, as you’re greeted by such a friendly, enthusiastic presence. Ed Sayers immediately encapsulates a key theme of the documentary, and that’s passion. A quality that’s captured across every different country featured and in many different ways. There is also the quintessential curiosity, and thirst for knowledge, that comes with a love of nature, and all of those qualities make for a wonderful atmosphere.
There are also some great music choices to draw you in even further, particularly the use of Flying by Faces, which feels particularly appropriate as that Super 8 lens is so nostalgic of the late 1960s and 1970s. It unsurprisingly makes for a great visual, to capture these fantastic moments of nature but instead of the intense high definition we’re used to with nature documentaries these days, taking it back to something warm and wholesome.
However, when Super Nature then tries to segue into a tale of climate crises and the variety of damage done by humans to natural environments, it throws off the tone. That initial celebration of nature is such a lovely experience so to stray away from it, when there isn’t enough time, and the documentary doesn’t have the structure for it, to explore these complicated issues, feels unnecessary. It has so much personality and lust for life in the earlier scenes, it’s a shame not to keep that going, even if it does have admirable intentions.
Super Nature is a lovely collection of natural imagery, bringing together a whole host of different personalities and exploring the ways we can connect with nature, especially when modern technology is removed from the equation. That great footage is supported by its charmingly wholesome tone. However, after a while it does feel like a lot of the same, and its attempt to explore the larger issues these habitats face feels lacklustre and slightly undermines its otherwise enthusiastic and passionate tone.
FilmCarnage.com 