No Fiction
Do you like movies about cats? Of course, this is a rhetorical question: all adults and children are adored by entertaining and vivid stories about our favorite pets. These stories stir, touch, entertain - they cause a wide range of feelin
gs and sensations in a person. And what can you say about educational cinema? Are you familiar with feline documentary movies? If not yet, then it's time to turn to the "golden fund" of the world documentary cinema. So...
Soul of the Cat, USA, 2017. Despite its romantic title, this is a serious science fiction film made by the National Geographic team. A truly monumental work, which touches upon many topics: where did the cat family come from, how did the domestication of wild cats happen, why did people either deify cats or demonize them in various historical eras. And of course, answers to dozens of our eternal questions about cats: why do cats eat grass, how does their sense of smell work, are we able to understand the emotions of our pets, and so on. The movie is not only informative, but also extremely entertaining, but special attention should be drawn by especially impressionable viewers: some scenes were shot very realistically - but this is quite in the tradition of National Geographic. The main thing here is exclusive information in a dynamic, exciting format.
Cats, Great Britain, 1991. This is not even a movie, but a whole mini-series made by no less authoritative creators - the BBC. The genre is the same: a popular science documentary movie filmed in a rather interesting format. For example, you will see no computer graphics there - everything is shot on film and looks like a kind of retro work, as they say, “warm and lamp-illuminated”. However, the film is really quite old, it is already 30 years old, and some of the information it contains is perhaps somewhat outdated. Nevertheless, this is a classic of the genre - we sometimes watch feature films based on the works of classic literature, everything there is not the same as in today's life. Therefore, five episodes from the BBC: "Felines and Pharaohs", "A Love-Hate Affair", "Pets or Pests?", "The Aristocrats", "Cat and Supercat" - definitely deserve our attention.
Kedi, Turkey, 2016. If you have ever been to Turkey (and who has not been there), you probably have noticed that the cult of cats reigns in this country. And the magnificent Istanbul is not only the capital of the country, but also the real capital of cats, kittens and cat lovers. “For Istanbul, a cat is more than just a cat. It is the embodiment of a mixture of cultures and uniqueness of this amazing city. Without cats, Istanbul would have lost a part of its soul”, - the film begins with such words. This is a mix of many stories about the relationships between people and cats, home and stray ones.
Istanbul cats cannot be really called stray: they are treated there more than humanely; when it is cold, they are allowed to warm up in houses and numerous cafes and are left food right on the sidewalk. “These containers contain water for cats and dogs. If you don’t want to strive for water in your next life, don’t touch these containers”, - such an announcement may be found near a street feeder and drinker in the movie. And in real life, as well.
De Wilde Stad, Netherlands, 2018. This movie can probably be seen as a promotional travel product: it is a guide to Amsterdam, one of the most famous cities in the world. In the pre-pandemic times, thousands of tourists from all over the world visited it every year, and in the movie, we see these crowds of people in the streets fanned by the legendary spirit of freedom. However, Amsterdam is not only people, but also 10 thousand species of plants and, of course, animals: rats, hedgehogs, frogs, bats, birds... To show all this biological diversity through the eyes of a simple domestic cat walking along the streets of the capital of the Netherlands - such a task was set to the filmmakers.
The camera men were responsible for the visual appeal, and it is simply incredible: the camera shots from the air (which means that the main character of the movie has climbed a tree), from the water (the cat walks on the deck of a barge), and even underground, in mouse holes! But most of the time scenes are shot from a height of 30–40 cm from the surface of the earth, that is, at the level of the cat's eyes. By the way, the movie is originally called the "Katwalk", "Cat Walk". Feel like a cat, as they say.
