Ghost Bird (2009)
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90% of critics liked it
(10 reviews) -
57% of users liked it
(81 ratings)
It is estimated that between 50 and 70 million Americans pursue bird watching as a hobby, and most of them are people who thrive on the prospect of finding a specimen they haven't seen before. In February 2004, a birder kayaking in an Arkansas swamp videotaped what he believed was a remarkable… More It is estimated that between 50 and 70 million Americans pursue bird watching as a hobby, and most of them are people who thrive on the prospect of finding a specimen they haven't seen before. In February 2004, a birder kayaking in an Arkansas swamp videotaped what he believed was a remarkable find -- an ivory-billed woodpecker, a large and impressive creature that was believed to have been extinct for half a century after unregulated clear-cutting of forests destroyed its habitat. The sighting was major news among avian researchers, and Cornell University's Ornithology Lab sent a team to Arkansas in hopes of finding a living ivory-billed woodpecker. Hundreds of bird watchers followed them to Brinkley, AR, in hopes of seeing the great bird themselves, and in a town that had been caught in an economic tailspin, the appearance of the woodpecker seemed like a stroke of remarkable good luck. Soon local entrepreneurs were opening gift shops and motels to take advantage of the influx of birders, and a local barber even devised a "woodpecker haircut." But amidst the excitement came a number of researchers who said that they had little hard evidence that what had been sighted was in fact an ivory-billed woodpecker, leading to a contentious debate among bird fanciers and folks in Brinkley who didn't want to lose their windfall. Filmmaker Scott Crocker takes an in-depth look at the sudden reappearance of the ivory-billed woodpecker and its many consequences in the documentary Ghost Bird, which was an official selection at the 2009 Hot Docs International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Scott Crocker
- Genres
- Documentary
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- May 6, 2009 Wide
- On DVD
- Apr 11, 2011
- Studio
- Anthology Archives
Critic Reviews
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Guy Dixon, Globe and Mail
An unassuming, clear-headed documentary about the hope that heaven and Earth may have actually produced a miracle, at least this time around, and allowed a species back from extinction.
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J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
The movie is impressive for its sophisticated take on blind hope.
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Neil Genzlinger, New York Times
Scott Crocker has turned a bird-watching tale into a multilayered story that will fascinate practically everybody.
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Nicolas Rapold, Village Voice
Backed by an eclectic soundtrack, Crocker's 2009 doc traces the hubbub around the decades-departed ivory-billed woodpecker, purportedly rediscovered near Brinkley, Arkansas.
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David Fear, Time Out New York
Thanks to Scott Crocker's crisply edited balance of scientific backbiting, naturalist noodling and a macro-philosophizing of what this possible rediscovery might mean, what could have been a niche-specific doc becomes something oddly compelling...
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