''Ape and Super-Ape'' ( nl, Bij de beesten af) is a 1972 Dutch

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by

Bert Haanstra Albert Haanstra (; 31 May 1916 – 23 October 1997) was a Dutch director of films and documentaries. His documentary ''Glass'' (1958) won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject in 1959. His feature film ''Fanfare'' (1958) was the mo ...

. It was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for Best Documentary Feature. The film is also notable for featuring extensive documentary footage of the life of

penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

s on

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

33 years before another documentary film, ''

March of the Penguins ''March of the Penguins'' ( French ''La Marche de l'empereur'' ; ) is a 2005 French feature-length nature documentary directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet, and co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society. The documentary dep ...

(2005)'' focused on the same subject.

Overview

The film is a study of the differences and similarities between human and animal behaviour. The first part of the movie focuses on the behaviour of various animal species. The second half is about the behaviour of humans, often intercutting with footage of animal behaviour. In the original Dutch version writer

Anton Koolhaas Anthonie "Anton" Koolhaas (16 November 1912 – 16 December 1992) was a Dutch journalist, novelist, and scenario writer. Biography Anthonie Koolhaas was born on 16 November 1912 in Utrecht, Netherlands. He was the son of Teunis Koolhaas and Trij ...

, who also wrote the script, provided the voice-over. Haanstra had already shown interest in human and animal behaviour in his previous films, like ''

Zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes. The term ''zoological g ...

'' (1961). ''Ape and Super-Ape'' analyzed these similarities on a much larger scale. In preparation for this documentary Haanstra and his camera crew traveled across the world for three years. They filmed animals and people in many different continents (

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

get extensive attention), while the well known Dutch ethnologist Gerard Baerendts was consulted for scientific advice. Haanstra would later make two other documentaries about animals: '' Nationale parken... noodzaak'' (1978) and '' Chimps onder elkaar'' (1984).

References

External links

*, posted by the

Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Dutch: Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid, or short, Beeld en Geluid) is the cultural archive and a museum located in Hilversum. The Institute for Sound and Vision collects, looks after, and ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ape And Super-Ape 1972 films 1972 documentary films 1970s Dutch-language films Dutch documentary films Documentary films about nature Films shot in South Africa Films set in Antarctica Documentary films about Africa Documentary films about Antarctica Films about apes Films about penguins Films set in zoos Biographical documentary films Anthropology documentary films Films directed by Bert Haanstra