Introduction
“L’Apocalypse Des Animaux” is the title of a wildlife documentary series made for television by French director Frédéric Rossif. The series consists of six episodes, each episode includes original music by Vangelis.
The documentary series was broadcast weekly from the 5th of June 1973 in France on the first channel of the O.R.T.F. According to the UK pressed album LP the music for the series was already recorded in 1970, so well before the broadcast, and listening to the music used in the television series this is plausible. The series contains much more music than is available on the soundtrack album, and includes music from earlier Rossif documentaries such as “Cantique Des Créatures” (1970), “Georges Mathieu Ou La Fureur d’Être” (1971) and “Au Pays Des Visages” (1972).
Other wildlife documentary series and films by Frédéric Rossif that Vangelis provided a musical score for include "La Fête Sauvage" (1976), "L'Opera Sauvage" (1976) and "Sauvage Et Beau" (1984).
Details and credits
- Title: L'Apocalypse Des Animaux
- Year: 1973
- Country: France
- Length: 6 episodes of about 50 minutes each
- Directed by Frédéric Rossif.
- Assistent-director: Jean-Charles Cuttoli
- Music by Vangelis Papathanassiou.
- Text by François Billetdoux.
- Dialog by Pierre Vaneck and Martine Sarcey.
- Cameraman: Bernard Zitzermann
- Sound Engineer: Harald Maury
- Montage: Dominique Caseneuve
- Producer: Michelle Wiart
- Produced by Télé-Hachette.
Episodes
- De L’Abeille Au Gorille (From The Bee To The Gorilla) (05-06-1973).
- Les Animaux Et Les Hommes (Animals And Humans) (12-06-1973).
- Une Memoire D’Elephant (A Memory Of An Elephant) (19-06-1973).
- Traquer Le Chasseur (Chasing The Hunter) (03-07-1973).
- La Peur Du Loup (Fear Of The Wolf) (10-07-1973).
- L’Enfant Et La Mer (The Child And The Sea) (17-07-1973).
Media
The series has been issued on VHS by Editions Montparnasse in France, Belgium and Italy:
- 1990 "L'Apocalypse Des Animaux" Editions Montparnasse France (SECAM)
- 1990 "L'Apocalypse Des Animaux" RTBF Video (PAL)
- 1990 "L'Apocalisse Degli Animali" VideoRAI/OASIS Italy (PAL)
Note that the six videos in France and Belgium are released both in single plastic hardcover case, as well as a cardboard boxset.
Synopsis
De L’Abeille Au Gorille (From The Bee To The Gorilla)
Thanks to exceptional images, Frédéric Rossif allows us to study the language and behavior of animals through their habits. As many species disappear, we become aware of the importance of each of them in the biological and "imaginary" balance of humanity. From the bee to the gorilla, including the puma, the flamingo, the blue-footed bobbie (an animal from the magical Galapagos Islands)... Each document taken from life takes us into the world of these animals that haunt our dreams and are the natural link between our immemorial past and our future.
Les Animaux Et Les Hommes (Animals And Humans)
For the animal world to survive, humans must learn to coexist with animals. Images that reveal some of the experiences of cohabitation: in the French reserves of Thoiry or the Atlantic, let's follow the lion, the tiger, and the doe. In Siberia, where reindeer and Eskimos help each other survive the cold. In India, where the relationship between humans and elephants has become, over the years, one of close complicity and mutual respect. Cuba, where crocodile reserves have been created to repopulate the Amazon River in Brazil...
Une Memoire D’Elephant (A Memory Of An Elephant)
To illustrate the comments of Mr. Boubou Hama, writer and president of the Niger Assembly, Frédéric Rossif offers us, across Africa, a vivid image of our most distant past, of which we like to believe the elephant has kept the slow memory. The pelican, the osprey, the koala, the chameleon, but above all the elephant, which symbolizes "the immutable" through its stability and longevity, are the living reflection of the African soul and culture, which have managed to create a real intimacy with the animal world. Mr. Boubou Hama speaks to us about this culture which, since the dawn of time, has so profoundly marked art and mythical narrative in Africa.
Traquer Le Chasseur (Chasing The Hunter)
His Royal Highness, Prince Bernard of the Netherlands, President of the World Wildlife Fund, explains to us what these national reserves are all over the world where the sole goal is the survival of species and the protection of animals. Throughout his comments, the most wonderfully filmed images pass before our astonished eyes: in Italy, in bird reserves, we follow the kiwi, the heron. In Australia, the koala, the living model of our teddy bear. In the United States, the bison who should finally regain their lost lands, or their European cousins raised for their flesh and skin. The apotheosis will be the Grand Paradis Park, where only a patient man and animal lover will have been able to see and film the dance of the chamois, mad for freedom.
La Peur Du Loup (Fear Of The Wolf)
"There are species that we continue to hunt mercilessly because we believe they are evil. Wolves are among the hunted animals," declares Gérard Ménatory, who, in his park in Lozère, raises and tames wolves. His experience demonstrates the inaccuracy of certain legends: through the story of this tamed she-wolf, unable to bend to the demands of her clan, and the unusual images of this eagle that does not attack, of these wolves that are neither submissive nor cruel, he shows us that this animal never kills for pleasure but only out of necessity. In India, we also find the sacred vulture, healer and adulated. In the great cold, the polar bear becomes an attacker out of necessity for survival... These prejudices about wolves allow us to glimpse the obscure, unconscious origin of our relationships with animals. Deep within man, there is fear of the unknown, fear of himself, fear of others...
L’Enfant Et La Mer (The Child And The Sea)
Let us enter the aquarium of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco and look through the eyes of a child at the metamorphoses of life: a whole palette of colorful fish, disproportionately large or small, beautiful or ugly according to our human criteria, of carnivorous plants, seem to frighten the child. But don't we frighten them ourselves when our oil tankers, discharging fuel oil into the open sea, have become the new pirate ships? What will remain of these boxfish, these porcupine or elephant-trunk fish, these clownfish, if only death emerges from the sea? Becoming aware of apocalypse of the animals can enlighten us about ourselves and encourage us to be vigilant.
Translated from the leaflet accompanying the French VHS video release (front/back).
Links
Gallery
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |