Micro Cosmos

Utilizing special macroscopic photographic techniques, filmmakers Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou created this fascinating and visually spectacular look at the hidden worlds in the life cycle of an ordinary meadow in France. When seen through the lens of Nuridsany and Perennou’s cameras, insects become gigantic beasts, blades of grass turn into towering monuments, and raindrops form puddles that resemble vast oceans.

The filmmakers find humor, drama, and beauty in the lives of these tiny flora and fauna as caterpillars transform themselves into butterflies, beetles struggle with their day’s foraging, and snails reproduce their species. Microcosmos was a multiple prize winner at the 1996 French Academy of Cinema Awards; the American release version features narration by actress Kristin Scott Thomas.

The U.S. distributor of this movie has foolishly decided to market it as a kid’s entertainment, in the apparent belief that no reasonable number of adults could possibly be interested, much less spellbound, by a beautifully written and narrated and vividly shot documentary about a fascinating and overlooked segment of the natural world. In concept, content, and delivery, this title is heads and shoulders above the day-to-day fare regularly offered, and consumed by adults, on the cable television channels.