...my compulsive search for everything that is “mountain” leads me among the shelves of documentary films and I find a DVD devoted to the mountains...
“Le Alpi”, a DVD recommended by “LIFE GATE people planet profit”. A beautiful DVD produced at Impatto Zero (zero impact)...
Before I was a mountaineer I was a hiker, and in either case, every time I took up a mountain discipline I did it with enthusiasm and passion. I have often found myself labelled a “montanaro” (a mountain man), but recently I have had to think again... I too am a Sunday hiker, I too an improvised mountaineer, but of a real mountain man I had very little, and of the mountains too. You end up knowing only what you are willing to listen to.
I was in one of the big city bookshops where you can find everything: from books to iPod accessories, by way of stationery and films on DVD.
As usual my compulsive search for everything that is “mountain” leads me among the shelves of documentary films and I find a DVD devoted to the mountains: “Le Alpi”, a DVD recommended by “LIFE GATE people planet profit”. A beautiful DVD produced at Impatto Zero.
Interesting... The cover shows off a marvellous photo of the Matterhorn. There we are, I think, a nice documentary about mountains, mountain people and mountaineers...
In the evening I settle comfortably on my sofa, ready to enjoy this beautiful DVD.
It takes very little to leave me literally open-mouthed. The video quality is superb.
For an enthusiast like me, thirsty for photographs, for moving pictures... the quality of the images far exceeds my expectations. The video is astonishingly sharp. The saturation and contrast of the colours are marvellous. Within the first few minutes I am already fascinated by the documentary.
As the minutes go by I realise I have made the usual mistake... and this is the story that shows how a “passion” often ends up becoming a neurosis, a very personal obsession with no concrete connection to reality. In fact I should have read the title more carefully: “Le Alpi, patrimonio naturalistico da proteggere” (The Alps, a natural heritage to protect).
I was looking for something that talked about my passion, about me, and instead I found a marvellous documentary that talked to me about the mountains. But not about the mountains the way we hikers and mountaineers often want to hear them told... No sport, no feats, no summit or route to climb. The documentary put out by Cinehollywood is a strictly natural-history documentary, where water, rock and mountain fauna and flora rule the roost.
I realise I had forgotten the essential thing, that the mountains are above all “nature”, and that most of the time we always end up forgetting it. We hikers, we human beings, we mountaineers like to “see ourselves in the mountain environment”, because basically we make the mistake (in an entirely human way) of wanting to live our self-centred emotions, forgetting what lies outside us.
It would have been less exciting to find the content I expected. It was instead astonishing to rediscover nature, only that. Particular care has been taken, and not only over the quality of the video and the photography. We can only imagine the long, very long work of lying in wait to capture brief moments in the lives of the animals. The sacrifice of those long hours lying in wait remains the invisible sign of this true, great passion for nature. With who knows what unimaginable expense of time, the authors have done what even the distracted hiker cannot manage to do with attention: stand still and watch the slow rhythm of the mountains.
If we want to add this too to the definition of Stile Alpino, I would say it is a good start for rethinking our sustainable, eco-friendly relationship with the mountains.
From the back cover
LE ALPI – Patrimonio naturalistico da proteggere
The collision of continents and a violent climate favoured the geological and biological formation of the spectacular mountain chain of the Alps. The succession of ice ages radically shaped these mountains, also conditioning the habits of their inhabitants. The Alpine ecosystem, with its wealth of fauna and flora and its splendid landscapes, must be respected and protected with the utmost commitment from everyone. Many species of the fauna, such as the golden eagle, the marmot and the mountain hare, are true immigrants from the ice age, who came here from the far north of Europe and from Asia to discover the lush flora of the mountain meadows and the snowy peaks.
The DVD contains text sheets by the biologist Maddalena Jahoda:
- The mountain, a layered “cake”;
- The animals of the Stelvio Park;
- The animals in other parks;
- The ibex;
- The chamois;
- The marmot;
Where to buy the DVD:
Another documentary devoted to mountain nature is Apuane, le Montagne d'Acqua by Valter Torri.