Wick's Review

Summary - Great 4.0

Sweet San Francisco – eccentric and accepting – takes wing in Judy Irving and Mark Bittner’s Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.

Telegraph Hill – as anyone who’s been there knows – is a wild nubbin overlooking Alcatraz. Fits that it would host a flock of jail-broke cherry-heads with a couple of blue-crowns and other birds of paradise mixed in. Such colorful diversity is perfectly San Fran.

The documentary shows how Telegraph Hill also attracts various hawks, native species who occasionally feast on the interlopers. (Speaking of birds and Alcatraz, the big house in the middle of the Bay once held human raptors, pigeons and a few parrots too.)

In any event, animal lovers will find Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill a delightful San Francisco treat.

Acting - Very Good 3.5

The documentary profiles Mark Bittner. Drawn to San Francisco by the music, the coffeehouses and the beauty, he finds his bliss as the parrots’ keeper, feeding, tending, even grooming them. This gentle San Francisco hero is a seeker of experience who becomes a provider of protection for the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill. Ineffably cool, that.

Film - Great 4.0

Judy Irving’s film pleasantly covers the Northeast corner of the City by the Bay, telling a lovely, intriguing tale, a romance with a middle, an end and a new beginning.

Mark Bittner’s observations about the avian Circle of Life are refreshingly heartfelt yet unblinkingly realistic.

Edge - Tame 1.2

Nothing gay about this San Francisco movie except a cute same-sex couple trapped in a marriage of convenience. Parrots. We’re talking parrots here.

Reality - Natural 1.0

rFactor 1.0 = totally real.

1 Comment

• BrianSez Jun 4, 2011 9:49AM

  Regarding Wick’s Review
  I saw this a number of years ago and found it to be fascinating. I swore a reviewed it here, but glad to see that you and BigD like it as well

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