KESTREL'S EYE

Although filming animals in their natural habitat is traditionally a favourite subject for many documentary filmmakers, the images from the life of a kestrel family in Kestrels Eye probably tells us more about the peculiar species of Homo sapiens than about this bird. For good reason, since, in this case, director Mikael Kristersson has borrowed the perspective of our feathered friends, literally a bird s eye view, of the world of humans. Such an approach is not unusual for Kristersson; he has used the same method in previous films, as in his best known documentary Pica, Pica, about magpies. In Kestrel s Eye, he takes us to a family of kestrels that resides in an old village church in Southwest Sweden and follows the movements of the rare passers-by in this deserted, wintry place. Thus, the viewer is afforded the unique opportunity to look at his own life from a different perspective, to refreshing, and at times humourous, effect.