The National Geographic’s documentary Stress: Portrait of a Killer is a co-production of The National Geographic and Stanford University. It features the work of neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky whose work is the center of the documentary. It is produced by Randy Bean and narrated by Bob Poole. The documentary is only 55 minutes long but its teachings could last a life time.
During this production we follow the work of Robert Sapolsky who uses a small community of baboons in East Africa to study the relationship between stress and social standings. The more dominant and strong a baboon is the less stressed he is. He also discovered that the more stressed primates were the worse their health was. This was the first time stress and deteriorating health were proven to be related. A similar study was made with the British Civil Service and came out with the same results.
The documentary also warns of the dangers of stress. Robert Sapolsky makes a great point by saying stress is only meant to help an animal get away from a vicious predator in a moment of extreme danger. The production focuses on the point that stress ruins your health by turning off your immune system, raising your blood pressure, affecting the memory part of the brain and shortening the telomeres of you DNA strands.
I would give National Geographic Stress: Portrait of a Killer a 4 out of 5 stars. It is very informative, and definitely entertaining. However I found myself more stressed out after watching it, because it talks about all the dangers of a stressed out life rather than help someone control it. But maybe that was the purpose of this documentary, perhaps they know they best way to get someone to do something fast is by scaring them into it.
Review Date: April 1, 2014
Rated:G
Genre: Documentary
Release Year: 2005
Movie Length: 1 hour 25 minutes
“March of the Penguins” shows stunning and amazing footage of penguins survival through the cold harsh winter and the great narrations of Morgan Freeman explaining the obstacles the Penguins must surpass. This movie i found would be great for children who enjoy animal themed movies. Otherwise many would not found “March of the Penguins” a interesting movie. For adults it might be best to watch this movie along with you kids so you can experience the great pictures of the arctics and the love penguins have for their children as well. But this movie also show a little disturbing imagery of penguins walking mating and dying, so as advised parental guidance might be needed. This movie is great for children between the ages from 6 to 10. Out of my preference I would give this movies 3 stars out of 5.