Much of the drama is delivered by the downright poetic Kevin Costner. Costner, of course is one of the last living actual movie stars. He is currently starring in television's most popular dramatic series (Yellowstone), but his credibility in the arena of loving the land and everything good on it goes way back. Like Robert Redford before him, Costner has a significant history of loving on the land. This time around he hosts and narrates this four part photo journal reflecting back on the 150 years since Yellowstone's founding as a National Park. Famously, Yellowstone became America's first National Park and it remains to this day the most formidable of all the Parks in the system. If you have had the luxury and gift of travelling extensively in life you would have trekked across many of them and Yellowstone manages to be even more fanciful than even Yosemite and that's making a statement.
Costner takes us on a wild yet subdued journey along the path of history and wildlife for the 150th anniversary of the National Park. He retraces the steps of the Hayden expedition. Initially, this expedition was sent forth to try to figure out how to capitalize and exploit the park's riches. Once the team arrived in Yellowstone and started their exploration they became lovers of the land, the fauna, the flora and the amazing geological displays along the way. Yes, Old Faithful goes off like clockwork. It did then, it does now and it did so at the creation of it all.
The series delivers scene after scene of stunning beauty and life in the wild, but no shot is more breathtaking than the one of the young deer hiding from a hungry Grizzly Bear. We know predators have to eat, but the sustained and long close-up of the fawn's one eye as it hides from the bear is a near ache for the viewer. You want this baby to survive. You can almost feel the emotions of the baby deer. Then, in a win for the soul you see and hear the mom calling out for her calf. A mother and child reunion for the ages. Better drama will not be seen in any fictional storytelling.
The four part series delivers one of the best on-screen adventures you will witness in a lifetime. This series ranks up there with the great nature specials of the last twenty years. Yes, it is as amazing as Planet Earth, Planet Earth II, Blue Planet, Dynasties, and Life In Color.
David Attenborough has hosted most of the best of the nature series in the last forty or so years, but he is 96 years old at this writing. Costner, who is 67 years old as of this writing will hopefully continue down the road of exploring our green and blue worlds.
We are losing our biodiversity. We are losing our land. We are losing our wildlife. With each passing year, more mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians go extinct. The bottom line is we have too many people on planet earth. The earth now has eight billion people. Where will we get our food and water? Where will wildlife get its water? The current illegal immigration situation is troubling on many levels, but public welfare and open borders are not sustainable. We have allowed over five million to enter the nation illegally since January 2021. Can you imagine what the country's population will be like in ten years? Do the numbers. Bye bye to our national parks and forests. So long to our state parks and state forests. Farewell to public lands and forest preserves. Everyone will not be living in apartments in New York City and Los Angeles. We are projected to go from 333 million in 2022 to 400 million in the next thirty years.
The episode titles are as follows: Magical Place, Rebirth Winter's Majesty, An Enduring Legacy
I cannot recommend a documentary with a higher rating than this one. Five Stars are not enough.
Thank you to Kevin Costner for putting your heart, your power, your clout and your influence behind such a gigantic and admirable endeavor.
Copyright The Flaming Nose 2022
