User Reviews

"Serengeti darf nicht sterben" or "Serengeti Shall Not Die" (literal translation) or just "Serengeti" is a West German German-language documentary from 1959, so this one will have its 60th anniversary soon and the title already gives away that this is for the most part a nature documentary. You could say that the Americans had forgiven Germany at that point already to the extent that they at least were ready to give it an Oscar. And Bernhard Grzimek was the lucky one to accept it. But he was also pretty unlucky as his son Michael that you hear about and see frequently during this film died during shooting, which is not referenced in the film. He was only 24 when he lost his life in a plane crash. Tragic stuff. Anyway, I think this film here (not only because of the color) is a trail blazer for nature documentaries in the decades afterward. But there is more to this one here like we see the native citizens and their way of life (the Massai) and also see the Grzimeks during their work in the wild how they are filming, but also how they are helping in securing the survival of certain animals. These parts were the ones that were not too interesting to me, especially the Massai, but it's not bad or anything, just not as memorable as the other stuff you get to watch in here. I need to add that people may actually be unimpressed watching this one and they will say that most other documentaries are not worse, not less informative and not less captivating than this one here and they may be right. But that is just becaue these other documentaries are from way later. We have to keep in mind filming conditions, technology, civilization etc. when judging this movie. Not taking this into account, I probably would have given it only ***/*****, but these other documentaries I just mentioned could never have been made or at least not been made reaching a level of quality like the Grzimeks do here. That's why it is probably the best documentary from its year and also a definite contender for best film of 1959. Disney and maybe Painlevé made films of similar quality during that era or earlier, but that's really it. By the way one final note: There is a German 3 hour film from not too long ago I think with actors about Grzimek and his life, career and family starring Ulrich Tukur and I thought it was pretty convincing and insightful and feel free to check that one out as well. Same is true about these 80 minutes here. This one does not need to be any longer to really make a difference. I highly recommend checking it out and it really should not be so difficult to get your hand on a copy as it so much deserves to be watched and is farf more underseen than it should be. Go change that. Watch it.