Page 88 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #05

Albatrosses are famously
monogamous, pairing for life.
Here, in a still from the film, a
male and female perform their
elaborate courtship dance.

TV

CHOICE

Reflections from a faraway land

A visual journey into the Pacific Ocean – and into the heart of an environmental tragedy.

Albatross so that I felt the need to explore the story are no interviews, no elaborate graphics, no
ONLINE Available for screenings from 22April and to more deeply.” Chris made a further seven science. Rather, it is a piece of art – a slow,
stream from 8 June: www.albatrossthefilm.com
trips to Midway over the next three years, lyrical portrait of the life and death of a
The albatross is lauded as the ‘most legendary’ following the birds through every stage of magnificent seabird – that uses symbolism
of birds, but it seems this iconic ocean their life-cycle. The sum of those efforts is this in place of reprimand and instruction over
wanderer is now more an emblem of a 96-minute documentary. coffee cups and carrier bags. For Chris, this
mega-problem of our age: plastic pollution. “The first time I visited Midway, the adult is a far more powerful tool when it comes to
The plight of the Laysan albatross chicks birds were at sea and I was greeted with this engaging a shift in consciousness.
on the Pacific atoll of Midway – dying in their silent graveyard,” recalls Chris. “But on my The layers run deep: the albatross is known
thousands as a result of plastic ingestion – return, I was met with a cacophony of noise in literature and poetry as a harbinger of
was brought to wider attention in 2009 by and the incredible smell of thousands of birds. shifting fortunes, while plastic has a “sterility
artist Chris Jordan, who It had a profound effect on and immortality” about it that reflects
photographed their young THE FIRST me, getting me thinking something of modern life. Even the name of
bodies decaying around about opposites in balance the island is meaningful: humanity is, Chris
miniature middens of ` TIME I – the juxtaposition of the believes, mid-way to its own destruction.
s
flotsam discarded from VISITED MIDWAY birds’ beauty with their Albatross is a stark reminder of the
modern life. horrible suffering; the consequences of our collective choices, and of
“I never expected my I WAS GREETED idea of Midway as both current predictions that the oceans will hold
photos to have the impact WITH THIS SILENT paradise and hell." more plastic than fish by 2050. “I want people
s
Albatross is not your
Chr s Jordan they did,” says Chris. “But GRAVEYARD.” typical environmental to feel the anxiety and sadness,” says Chris.
they had a hopelessness
“Because only then will they reconsider their
about them, so much
documentary. There
lives and act decisively.” Sarah McPherson
88 BBC Wildlife Spring 2018