“The Carolina Parrot”
Audubon (2017) briefly chronicles the life of America’s most famous nature painter and naturalist, John James Audubon (1785 – 1851). It does a reasonable job of getting us inside the man and his motivations, while giving us some lovely glimpses into his famous paintings and engravings. It hits the low points as well as the high points, such as his terrible investment in a steam mill, which basically ate his finances alive, and how he had to travel to Louisiana, hunting to support himself, in search of work, only to be pickpocketed and forced to work as a tutor, while continuing his obsessive painting.
If you don’t mind the voice that reads his letters, it’s not bad at all.
Perhaps most importantly, though, is his observations, late in life, of how the land was changing during his years of observation, from being plush with wildlife, to the effects that man, especially European-derived man, had on the environment wherever he went. Some of those descriptions were quite heart-rending, and really struck a chord with those of us who read in environmental degradation a potential disaster for the human race.
But, then, that’s rather what the Audubon Society is about, isn’t it?
All in all, it’s fairly well done, and if you enjoy Audubon, biographies or birds, see it.
