urbpan | Mini-review of "Falcon's Eye"

Kestrel's Eye (Falkens öga, Sweden 1998) is a treat for patient bird lovers and a chore for most anyone else. This film is an hour and a half of European Kestrel behavior (distilled from two years of shooting) with no narration and no music. We simply see the lives of a kestrel pair as they bond, mate, find shelter high in a church nook, hunt, and raise their chicks. Some views will find a certain poetry in the pure presentation, while others will become antsy and bored. The kestrels themselves watch with disinterested perplexity as the humans below have an Easter parade, tend the churchyard and bury their dead. Who's to say which animal is more worth watching? One's answer to that will give a clue to whether one will enjoy Kestrel's Eye, or not.