Our Living World is an impressive four-part docuseries, at least on the surface. Narrated by Academy Award-winner Cate Blanchett and produced by the team behind Emmy-winning docuseries Our Great National Parks, Netflix’s latest entry in the nature documentary subgenre is an ambitious swing, offering audiences scene after scene of gorgeous, awe-inspiring cinematography. From breathtaking drone shots of extreme terrains to heart-pumping footage of animals desperately clinging to survival, Our Living World features a diverse range of exciting content, packaged in a collage format to keep today’s short attention spans engaged.
A spiritual successor of other highly produced nature documentaries like BBC’s The Planet Earth and Life, Our Living World promises an incredible look at the unseen network uniting and sustaining life on Earth. This is accomplished by juxtaposing vignettes from nature with sequences that explain a natural process connecting living things. For example, Blanchett describes how lightning strikes fix nitrogen in the air, which is carried to the ground as nitrates in rain. Her explanation is demonstrated by shots of a lightning storm, followed by special effects which represent nutrients raining down on Earth as glowing blue sparkles.
It’s clear the series was made for passive consumption. The collage of visual splendour, no context needed, is the perfect content to sell 4K TVs. This isn’t a criticism, but a commentary on the overall approach. There is an over-arching conceit here that ties the otherwise unrelated scenes together through themes, but the overall packaging is weak. Far too many of the sequences are stunning but shallow; much of the content here is interesting and entertaining, but not very educational.
Our Living World is undoubtedly awe-inspiring at times, making this docuseries very accessible for the average viewer. This is especially true for Western audiences unfamiliar with the wildlife in Asia and Africa. A rhino calmly walking through city streets in Nepal? Fascinating. A jaguar attacking a caiman from above? Exciting! A newborn baby reindeer stumbling across a snowy tundra? Someone call Pixar, I’ve got a pitch to sell.
Where the series falters is connecting the high-definition footage with meaningful commentary. Did we really need a scene of hippos fighting over territory to demonstrate how delicate the sub-Saharan Africa water cycle is? Would that not have been better served by a conversation about how human activities in the region influence water cycle dynamics? And was it necessary to use a playful, goofy score? Or for Blanchett to characterize these large, aggressive animals as being on vacation? It all feels very dumbed down.
For years, TV critics and producers have been talking about “the next Game of Thrones.“ To a certain extent, the same could be said for nature documentaries. The impressive Planet Earth series was five years in the making and was the most expensive nature documentary the BBC ever commissioned. Its cultural impact was huge: it set a new bar for this kind of content, setting formulas that we still see today, for better or for worse.
Our Living World is not the next Planet Earth in terms of cultural impact, but it is the next Planet Earth in terms of being the latest imitator. It’s another high-budget nature documentary that prioritizes audience enjoyment over edification. For many, this is more than enough—but for viewers like me who want to learn something from our documentaries, it’s a bit of a missed opportunity.
All episodes of Our Living World are now streaming exclusively on Netflix.
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