Library / Separation from Loved Ones
Watch this when
March of the Penguins
They walk 70 miles, trade the egg in freezing wind, and take turns until someone comes back. Some seasons, surviving together is the whole win.
Who it's for
The emperor penguins' breeding cycle gives an image of endurance that doesn't depend on words: parents separate for months, trade the egg in seconds of freezing air, and return.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Luc Jacquet's 2005 documentary follows the yearly breeding cycle of emperor penguins in Antarctica, with Morgan Freeman narrating the English-language version. Each autumn the penguins walk inland to their ancestral breeding grounds, where courting pairs produce an egg that the female passes to the male before returning to the sea to feed.
Where to find it
Rent or buy on major digital stores; often on Disney+ with National Geographic titles. Streaming availability rotates; check JustWatch.
Before you start
Heads up: Deaths of penguin chicks and eggs.
Age: G (MPAA; suggested all ages)
No man is an island, entire of itself;John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII
