Magic of the Moors - Blu-ray

Film: After bringing us closer to the wonder of the forest in his last film, Jan's Haft takes us into the magic of the moors in his latest work. In wonderful pictures he presents this fascinating habitat and its inhabitants. Using the latest slow-motion and time-lapse techniques, he created magnificent shots in over 500 days of shooting, which can unfold their full splendour on the big screen. However, the film is a little tough at the beginning. Here it becomes noticeable that there have simply been too many animal and nature documentaries in recent years and that the market is actually oversaturated. But the moment you realize as a viewer how important the moor is for our entire environment, how versatile its manifestations are and how diverse the flora and fauna in the various moorland landscapes are, you are again gripped by this documentary.

Whether you get to watch carnivorous plants at work up close, accompany cranes feeding their young, roam the moorland with wolves and bears, or get to know mosses whose spores literally explode - the elaborate camera techniques and enormous patience of the crew made it possible to capture footage at a total of 80 filming locations in Germany, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the Czech Republic, which quickly make you forget the somewhat long-winded beginning. The commentary by Axel Milberg, which is not always necessary but very pleasant, fills the rush of images with a lot of exciting information.

For example, the viewer learns about the dramatic impact that the draining of peatlands has on the world's climate and how easy it is in principle to restore peatlands. One learns about the variety of creatures that have adapted perfectly to the special environment of the moors and have found an important habitat here, which man is taking away from them more and more. But even though the film hints at and definitely raises the moral forefinger, it never comes across as too doctrinaire. Like The Green Wonder - Our Forest, Magic of the Moors is not only a beautiful film, but also an important one that conveys the necessity of nature conservation in a fascinating way. A technically as well as dramaturgically first-class documentary that not only nature lovers should definitely not miss. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The picture has a high overall sharpness and a very natural-looking color scheme. This, along with the good contrasts and pleasing picture depth, leads to the overall impression left by the Blu-ray's picture quality being absolutely positive. This also applies to the sound mix, which, in addition to the narrator's voice and the music, is determined in particular by the atmospheric sounds of the moors and their inhabitants. Good!

Extras: As a bonus there are five entertaining webisodes, which have turned out very short with a total length of just under 6 minutes. Especially about the camouflage hiding places of the crew one would have liked to learn more. IN ADDITION to these clips, there are more detailed interviews with narrator Axel Milberg (approx. 10:39 min.), Jan Haft (approx. 14:36 min.) and Melanie Haft (approx. 3:46 min.), as well as a very nice, informative booklet. Good!

Conclusion: Magic of the Moors is a very nice and highly interesting documentary about the moor habitat, which has not only great pictures, but also insightful as well as important information about the importance of the moors for our world climate to offer. A film worth watching, presented on Blu-ray in very good picture and sound quality. The bonus material is not really extensive, but a good addition to the main film. For this, there is an overall: Absolutely recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp