Story of the illegal trade in falcons that is rapidly wiping out the falcon populations across the globe. The falcon's are brought to the Middle East where they are used for hunting. Unfortunately the birds can't survive there and they end up dying with in a month of their arrival. Alan Parrot, an American falconer who was responsible for the start of the falcon trade, is now fighting to stop what amounts to the wholesale destruction of the birds and the environment. Worse is the fact that the huge camps where the falcons are used for hunting have been linked at the means at which terrorists get supplies, information and money. However in an industry where one bird can be sold for several million dollars (they are more valuable than cocaine) no one wants to stop it because it means they won't get paid.
Scary film is for the most part very enlightening and revealing about the way things seem to work in the world. This is clearly a situation where money and oil talk since more than once it was known that Osama Bin Laden and his cronies were falconing but no one did anything. Worse it a film where we are shown the environmental damage being done that no one (especially in Mongolia or the former Soviet states) wants to stop because there is simply too much money to be made.
While the subject of the film is ten out of ten, the film itself is only a seven because its pacing is bit off. There are too many repeated or similar shots of the birds on peaches or in captivity and too much of the birds flying in the first half of the film. Its a bit too leisurely to start with the result that as the film goes farther and farther down the rabbit hole in the final half hour everything feels rushed.
Very much worth seeing because it sheds light on a part of life we know nothing about, but which influences the way we live.
Scary film is for the most part very enlightening and revealing about the way things seem to work in the world. This is clearly a situation where money and oil talk since more than once it was known that Osama Bin Laden and his cronies were falconing but no one did anything. Worse it a film where we are shown the environmental damage being done that no one (especially in Mongolia or the former Soviet states) wants to stop because there is simply too much money to be made.
While the subject of the film is ten out of ten, the film itself is only a seven because its pacing is bit off. There are too many repeated or similar shots of the birds on peaches or in captivity and too much of the birds flying in the first half of the film. Its a bit too leisurely to start with the result that as the film goes farther and farther down the rabbit hole in the final half hour everything feels rushed.
Very much worth seeing because it sheds light on a part of life we know nothing about, but which influences the way we live.
