The Great Zebra Exodus

The Great Zebra Exodus was not what I had expected it to be. Taking place in Botswana's Makgadikgadi salt pans, we follow the zebra as they migrate from their home in the salt pans to a more fruitful area, but also a more dangerous one.

It was interesting to hear about the way zebra’s define one another and how they group together in small groups of families. One stud and as many as five mares, each giving birth to foals and extending the family of the stud. It’s an interesting social structure for sure, one that is unfortunately given the once over with and not really given an in depth look at. Instead we pan off to watch Meerkat and other indigenous wild life as they too adapt to the seasons.

While the film is beautiful, from the season changes, geographical sites along the migration, and even the footage of the animals in their respective poses, the film is also a bit brutal and may prove to be hard for younger audiences to watch. One particular scene is rather jarring as a small foal viciously attacked by one of their own.

I highly recommend watching the film even if you’ve never really been interested in zebras. The information found within is pretty striking and intriguing considering the way in which the animals behave in their social structures. Its both as far from being human as you could possibly imagine, but also very human in some respects. Disturbing, yet breathtaking.

PICTURE QUALITY:
The film, having aired on cable, was shot in 1080i, basic cable HD. The picture has its usual pangs of pushing in and out of HD quality, or at least being low on the spectrum of HD quality. For the most part though the film looks relatively good. The issue is Exodus has many wide out shots, usually the kind of shots that end up killing HD quality.