Kangaroo Valley is the latest science and nature documentary released on Netflix on 14th December 2022. The documentary film is narrated by Sarah Snook (Succession) and directed by Kylie Stott (Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough). The script is written by Tab Murphy and it is produced by Ari Mark and Phil Lott.
The film has a runtime of about 1 hour and 16 minutes, following a mob of Kangaroos in a valley in Australia. The director of photography for the film are Tom Crowley, Ben Cunningham and Richard Kirby, who have shot the beautiful landscape of the wilderness.
Netflix’s description of the series reads:
Journey to a secret valley in Australia, where a nervous baby kangaroo named Mala faces hungry dingoes and winter snows in this coming-of-age adventure.
-Kangaroo Valley Review Does Not Contain Any Spoilers-
It is a coming-of-age story of a young kangaroo joey called Mala, learning what it takes to survive her incredible first year. Only one in five joeys make it to their first birthday. Mala’s greatest enemy is the dingo pack that stalks her family, as she learns to leave her mother’s side and venture into the world.
About 100 miles south of Sydney, Australia lies a small town called Kangaroo Valley. The Kangaroo River runs through the valley’s wildlife-rich rainforests and countryside and it is also the setting for the nature documentary. Although the creators call it a secret valley, I wonder if it really is even a secret in the native country.
As the title suggests we follow a group of roos, who are even referred to as a mob, as they go from season to season, trying to survive in the wild. Calling it survival sounds incorrect and valid at the same time. The rainforests are their home, so basically they are living their day-to-day mundane life, on the other hand with the changing climate due to many man-made reasons, they are trying to survive the change as well.
Among the mob, the creators have earmarked a few characters whom we will be observing throughout the film. The main character is Mala who has just stepped out of her mother Mowanna’s pouch, reluctantly. Like every bird has to leave its nest, Mala is slowly trying to make sense of the things around her, including the deadly predator – the dingoes.
Many times Mala escaped by thin hair from the jaws of a young dingo named Miro. While it was an unsuccessful attempt on Miro’s part, Mala must have thanked whatever entity she believed in. Apart from them, we are also introduced to other animals living in the valley like – Warrin the wombat, who hates intruders in his living area.
On a personal level, I definitely identify with Warrin, who just wants to eat, sleep and live in its underground burrow, while shooing away anyone who might break his peace. We also meet Willie the wagtail bird, who has an amicable relationship with the roos. Both of these species benefit from certain aspects of each other.
The narration of the film is quite dramatic, even when the visuals on the screen might look plain and of not much importance, Sarah Snook’s dramatic voice keeps you engaged. While watching it also made me wonder if Mala knows, that the people around the world now know her as ‘Mala’ and who even names these animals with such exotic names – Biru, Miro, Lowanna, Bamiya and so on.
Summing Up: Kangaroo Valley
To put it simply, it is like any other Animal Planet special episode, except the narration doesn’t take you to the sleep world. If you enjoy watching these interesting nature documentaries, then you will find it equally exciting.
Kangaroo Valley is currently streaming on Netflix.