Planeta Praha amazes with beautiful images of the coexistence of the city and nature (review)
Prague is not just a bridge and a castle. The iconic line from PSH comes to mind twice while watching the new documentary. Prague is not just pigeons and swans. Creators of one of the most successful domestic documentaries, Planets Czechiareturns with a new look at our capital, which may surprise you enough with details from the unexpectedly colorful privacy of the animal neighbors sharing our immediate surroundings.
Planet Prague teaches to look for bits of beauty and wilderness where a resident of a busy metropolis would definitely not expect it; but the documentary has great potential to interest viewers from all over the country. The Urban Jungle Adventure presents our capital city as one of the most biologically valuable areas of the Czech Republic and depicts the daily chirping and chirping of more than fifty animal and plant species and their struggle with fate. At the same time, most of their noisy neighbors probably have no idea about their existence.
The creators made sure that the animal casting applicants met the conditions attractive behavior, interesting appearance and species diversity. Thanks to the fact that they filmed gradually throughout the year, in addition Planet Prague it captures the entire life cycle of species across the seasons.
The Tasmanian flowers remind us of a smaller red starfish near the Smíchovské nádraží railway tracks, swallows waiting for the start of the day for the first subway, a battle of hornbills for mating on the table of a Petrin restaurant, Amazonian ants enslaving their namesakes or perhaps groups of mouflons who decided to emigrate from the Krč forest across the road to the grounds of the Thomayer Hospital. He can tell all the stories of his varied cast Planet Prague spectators to serve in stunning imagery and storytelling in a thrilling and captivating way.
Perhaps it’s just a shame about the few digital shots at the very end, unnecessarily literally illustrating the point of the documentary. Their artificiality next to all that beauty just doesn’t look good.
The top thermal cameras, infrared cameras, drones and other devices in the hands of eleven cameramen convey truly surreal and adventurous images of the coexistence of nature and the city. However, it is also thanks to the creative work of the editor that the individual storylines of the animal characters hold together and speak to us so clearly. The unsurprisingly sound-painting Jiří Macháček does not even have to resort to excessive descriptiveness in order for the viewer to understand what kind of story is unfolding in front of him, despite his overly scientific ignorance.
Planet Prague (2022)
Life finds a way – even in Prague. The new documentary from the professionals behind Planeta Česko is a mosaic of stories from several animal stars, whose stories do not lack tension or emotion. Technically and positionally breathtaking shots of nature and the city with pleasant music and a voiceover by Jiří Macháček not only caress the viewer during the pleasant eighty minutes of footage, but also on the way out of the cinema make the viewer see beauty where he had no idea about it. It is certainly a gift that will come in handy when driving through the currently hot concrete jungle.
82 %
Martin Mažári, Totalfilm.cz
photo/video: Aerofilms © 2022