The emperor's post scriptum : "Fat is beautiful".

Africa was the fabled land of wildlife documentary filmmaking.

Then, Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Louis Malle took us underwater to « the world of silence » (« Le monde du silence »-1955).

Half a century later, « La marche de l’empereur »’s producers hit box office gold in Antartica.

Africa’s wildlife was, well, wild : a beautiful, but cruel and violent world. The lion king seems to doze lazily in the high grass, yet danger is looming. A sudden flash of R-rated action and there goes the elegant antelope. The king’s family briefly dines then returns to sleep ; garbage men move in : hyenas and vultures feast on leftovers. A dangerous world indeed.

On the ice-fields of Antartica, what do we see ? Penguins. What do they do ? Based on the film title, they walk. Based on screen evidence, they mostly stand still. Action ? An egg is laid. Dangers ? Cold, wind and the odd visit of a silly bird with a ridiculous Cyrano beak which clumsily attempts at hijacking and killing a couple of newly born ; despite the soundtrack full blown efforts -voice over and music together- to dramatise the sequence, it looks rather like a Mack Sennett short film.

In front of African wildlife, powerful lions, lean and mean leopards, greedy ugly vultures, we feel totally out of place and inadequate. Crocodiles are vicious, rhinoceroses scary, hippopotamuses an enigma. Giraffes seem nice, but awkward. However intimidating, the big friendly looking elephant is the only true crowd favourite.

Watching penguins on their ice field, our sense of inadequacy subsides, we feel no inferiority complex. They are so much like us, obviously ill-equipped, if not physically challenged : they cannot fly and barely walk ; they swim wonderfully, but the film only shows glimpses of them in their favourite environment not to hurt our self-esteem.

We are tired of gorgeous looking stars and overachievers, we crave for common place heroes : penguins.

The film was said to be a success in the US for its worship of conservative family values. The truth runs deeper : the whole film whispers a message which may not be said aloud, though each picture frame shouts it at us : fat is beautiful.

The film penguins are so overweight their celebrated walk displays the rolling gait of an obese drunk.

Fat is beautiful. Without fat, the cold kills you ; without fat, you do not survive when food becomes scarce ; without fat, you cannot feed your baby and your baby dies.

The film penguins do not discuss earth warming ; they probably refuse to believe in it : they would need fewer calories to beat the cold.

Building fat is your duty in life, obesity is heroic : proof of your commitment to your family.

The film moral is ice field clear : obese people are our penguins : undervalued, humble, hard-eating caloric overachievers.

It is also theatre owner friendly : food shortage may strike at any time, rush to the concession counter for a giant bucket of pop corn, add a spare one for good measure ; keep up the good work during feature film presentation : eat as much as you can as you watch your penguins siblings.