Wild Brazil: Land of Fire and Flood

Another entry in the fine BBC Earth series' of natural history documentaries, Wild Brazil Land of Fire and Flood journeys to South America for a three-episode panorama capturing animal life across the seasons. Director Adam White's series follows families of tufted capuchin monkeys, raccoon/lemur-like coati, a giant otter, and a stealthy jaguar, cutting between the broods for a look at childhood, feeding, play, survival, and romance. In “A Dangerous World,” “Facing the Flood” and “Enduring the Drought,” viewers tour the Amazonian rainforest, explore canyon crevices, and cross the Pantanal tropical wetland and Cerrado grasslands, spread out below the “skyriver" of clouds. Suffice to say that the beauty of the vast landscapes and intimate micro-details are characteristically spectacular, while the approach is very family-friendly, with narrator Stephen Mangan infusing the animals' stories with pathos, humor, danger, and drama, and often adding suggestions of anthropomorphic emotions. The BBC Natural History Unit spent over a year patiently filming these creatures with HD 4K cameras, along with an arsenal that included various jibs, cranes, dollies, helicopters, and even heli-drones in order to get ethereal aerial shots that float over cliffs, tree canopies, and waterfalls. Brief “Diaries” segments at the end of each episode offer fascinating glimpses of how the camera artists relied on technology—and sometimes luck—to craft the narrative. A solid nature series, this is recommended. Aud: P. (T. Fry)