Educational Media Reviews Online

Earth From the Air is not a story or narrative, but a series of images. The cinematographer/photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand has assembled literally what the title states. Images of land, water, animals, people, vegetation, and human-made structures unfold, some near and some far, one after the other. Viewers will appreciate his technique and wonder how he captured the images.

Options are given to enable the images to stay on screen for one, three, or five minutes, or to go fast forward; a loop playback is also available. It is to be used on DVD players and may not work on computers. The DVD does provide a test at the beginning for aspect ratio.

The approximately 120 images are a riot of color, pattern, and space. The colors—brilliant blues, greens, yellows, and even black-and-white—are dazzling. The patterns of animals, vegetation, rivers, boats, highways, and more are awe-inspiring. Arthus-Bertrand reportedly flew over many countries to find the portraits of nature and humankind he photographed.

About every fifth image is a white-on-black sentence that contains a message or statistics about the environment. A screen at the end provides two websites for further information. More than just a collection of pretty pictures, this is a message to viewers to protect the earth.

This DVD is recommended for college or community education classes in art, ecology, or photography, or for any interested group for discussion purposes. Public libraries will also want to consider purchasing. It could also be used as a wallpaper background on a television screen.

For something different and awe-inspiring, this collection of images is top-rate.