The famous director of “Jaws” and “Jurassic Park” devotes a documentary to the animals that roamed the Earth before humans which sounds a bit like a warning. Because one thing is clear: dominant species do not return after a mass extinction.
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2 min
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Telling the story of life on Earth is the goal of Steven Spielberg’s new documentary, Life on our planet, a story narrated by Morgan Freeman and available since October 25 on Netflix. Through eight episodes of around fifty minutes, the viewer discovers the animals that roamed the Earth before humans, at different times.
Each episode has its animal kingdom, its dynasty, that of amphibians first before reptiles, then the ancestors of mammals. The documentary reminds us that life has always found a way to overcome catastrophes for more than four billion years, from harsh ice ages to meteorite falls. Each time, species managed to escape destruction by waging a fierce battle for dominance in the new era. And we discover in this documentary key species such as the first fish with a backbone, the first vertebrate to have migrated from the ocean to the land, or the Arandaspis fish, a somewhat bizarre fish but having played a crucial role in the ‘evolution.
99% of species are now extinct
From dinosaurs to Cameroceras, these giant molluscs whose shells could reach eight meters, the directors had the freedom of choice, while 99% of the species that lived on Earth have today disappeared. Because this is where the documentary takes us, with this worrying warning, as the film’s producer points out: “In the five periods we’ve had so far, there was one common denominator: the dominant species from the era before extinction never come back.” Question: on the eve of a 6th mass extinction, do you not consider yourself, humans, to be the dominant species of the moment?