Penguin Post Office

Filmmaker Ben Wallis's PBS-aired Nature documentary focuses on unlikely neighbors occupying Port Lockroy on the Antarctic Peninsula during the summer season. The human inhabitants of this spot are volunteers from the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust who run the remote British outpost during the four-month tourist season. Port Lockroy attracts cruise line tourists who visit the site's museum and gift shop, which includes a post office where visitors can send postcards from the Royal Mail's most isolated outpost. Also occupying Port Lockroy is a large colony of gentoo penguins, who mate and raise chicks during the summer. The penguin population is a major attraction for the tourists, but the birds are more focused on their own concerns—especially the violent predators seeking to nab vulnerable chicks. Strangely, the avian sections of Penguin Post Office are less interesting here, partially because penguins have been covered with greater skill and depth in other Antarctic nature documentaries, most notably the Oscar-winning March of the Penguins. Still, this is an entertaining travelogue overall, and should be considered a strong optional purchase. Aud: P. (P. Hall)