Whispers in the Woods: Movie Review

Director: Vincent Munier 

Famed French wildlife photographer Vincent Munier takes viewers on an utterly incredible visual journey in Whispers in the Woods, a movie about the connection between man and nature, as well as the bond between stories and generations.

In Le chant des Forets (its French title), the Velvet Queen director delivers some stunning visuals as he negotiates the forests of Vosges in Eastern France, the home of bears, deer, owls, lynxes and others, with his grandson.

To say that Whispers in the Woods is part of slow cinema is both an understatement and a disservice. 

Whilst it's true the pace is almost glacial at times, the film's commitment is to both its soundtrack, which charts the aural world around us, and its visuals which prove life in all its forms is a wondrous thing.

Whether it's mist burning off from the forests to reveal the trees ("A sense of resurrection," Munier intones magnificently as the camera hangs on the spectacle) or shots of animals sticking their heads out of dead trees unexpectedly, Whispers in the Woods returns the kind of awe to the landscape which has been largely missing from the big screen for years and shoves nature to the forefront.

Whilst there's also a message about climate change destroying life in the forest, Munier's also keen to take the earpods out of our ears and listen to the shrill noise of the birds, the stirring sounds of the wildlife and to appreciate what we have on our doorstep.

As well as the message of not hurrying deforestation, there's a subtle second thread at play here - one of generational connection and passing on information to kin. Munier spends the time in the woods with his grandson, educating him on where to look, when to listen and as a result, the bond between them grows.

A stunning bigscreen outing, Whispers in the Woods offers a kind of solace rarely witnessed in the cinema these days - it's an incredible tribute to the simplicity of life in all of its various forms.

Whispers in the Woods is playing at the New Zealand International Film Festival - for screening times, visit nziff.co.nz