Our Planet offers a beautifully brutal view of nature

Our Planet is a beautiful nature documentary that offers a look at the world where humans don’t roam but still hold influence.

Our Planet is the latest nature Netflix original documentary. The seires is narrated by debatably the best voice in nature documentaries David Attenborough, and it premiered on Netflix in April.

The series, produced by Silverback Films, is an eight-episode retrospective of the beauty and diversity of the planet we live on. It also dissects the human impact, mostly in a negative way, but offers a link at the end of each episode that gives great ideas and information in ways that humans can help slow down and potentially reverse the damage that has been caused by our carbon footprint. It toes the line with being a bit preachy though, so some people may get mildly annoyed at that.

Each of the eight episodes offers a different look at our planet. The first episode being a simple overview of the entire series. It talks about a general view of what is expected in the whole series. Our Planet offers a beautiful look at the world. The camera work is gorgeous. Honestly, I don’t fully understand how some of their shots were captured. Some of the animals are a bit skittish, so the fact that the cameras were able to get so close to them is a testament to how good the camera work is.

Our Planet is brutally honest though. The show doesn’t shy away from brutality that comes with animals that have to survive. There is some serious sadness in the world, but it is the survival of the fittest and the least fit don’t always survive.

A great example would be the sadness that comes from watching orca whales play with their food before they actually eat it. That’s not the same as a child throwing peas before they actually eat them because an orca eats penguins and seals. The scene is just tough to watch, but I feel it is absolutely necessary to see these sorts of things because they are a part of the world we live in. We may not enjoy it; in fact, I don’t think that we are meant to.

Our Planet is a captivating series that doesn’t always aim to please. Sometimes it’s as though Our Planet is filmed with the desire to have us face the less desirable parts of the world. It’s often said you can’t truly appreciate the good without knowing the bad. Our Planet is a rough look at the world we live in, but also the beauty that it beholds. It talks of preservation and prevention. It gives the narrative to save the world as best it can. I give Our Planet a solid 4 out of 5. The only negatives being that it gets a little preachy sometimes.