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Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, The
Shadow Distribution

Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, The reviews


9.3

based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 30 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Rated G

Starring Mark Bittner

The true story of a Bohemian St. Francis and his remarkable relationship with a flock of wild red-and-green parrots. Mark Bittner, a dharma bum, former street musician in San Francisco, falls in with the flock as he searches for meaning in his life, unaware that the wild parrots will bring him everything he needs. (Shadow Distribution)

GENRE(S):	Documentary
DIRECTED BY:	Judy Irving
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 27, 2005 Theatrical: February 11, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	83 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Film Threat Phil Hall

This is an excellent movie -- by all means, flock to it!

100

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Beguiling, moving and just plain fun documentary.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Staff (Not credited)

It's a special, strangely soothing movie experience that wonderfully celebrates the intricate diversity of life on Earth and the profound emotional bond that can exist between man and beast.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The film is both wise and tender in its treatment of relationships -- between birds, between people, and between birds and people.

Dallas Observer Melissa Levine

Mostly, Wild Parrots is a great, important, and unforgettable movie.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

One of the most beautiful and endearing nature films you've ever seen, despite being filmed almost entirely within a major metropolis, and a love story that will repeatedly reduce you to tears.

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

Well-considered, beautifully made, and often gripping in its narrative, the film epitomizes the best the documentary format can offer.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

The kind of well-crafted, character-driven work that wows regional film festival crowds and public television audiences but seldom gets seen outside those circles.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Judy Irving's terrific documentary 'The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill is ostensibly about birds, but only in the way that a game of Scrabble is about tiles.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

In watching the birds and the man with an affectionate, curious eye, the filmmaker builds a story of surprising emotional resonance.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The mellow, serendipitous The Parrots of Telegraph Hill is here to show you just how magical happenstance can be.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

This is a charmfest of a movie, for bird lovers and non-bird lovers alike.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Quite simply, a beautiful film, in both form and content.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

The movie winds its way artfully from a straight animal study to something more profound. It's hard to shake the film's astonishing final thoughts and shots, as Bittner nervously contemplates parrot eggs while hawks circle overhead.

The Hollywood Reporter Sura Wood

Genuinely sweet, beautifully constructed documentary.

Slate David Edelstein

It thaws the soul.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It is not the film you think it is going to be. You walk in expecting some kind of North Beach weirdo and his wild-eyed parrot theories, and you walk out still feeling a little melancholy over the plight of Connor.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

A cornball charmer of a film with some beautiful birds and homespun wisdom.

Miami Herald Marta Barber

The documentary also has a story to tell, and as such it builds up its drama.

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

In traditional stories, it's saints, madmen and children who befriend wild animals. Mark Bittner, who pals around with feral creatures in the amiable documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, is just as much an outsider, though of a different sort.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Lovely to look at, if not very deep in its thinking about relations between humans and their animal friends.

New York Post Russell Scott Smith

In the charming new documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, we learn all about the tragedy and comedy of being a bird on the loose in San Francisco.

Variety Dennis Harvey

A charming look at the mildly eccentric man who gained modest feature-page celebrity for his familiarity with San Francisco's tropical parrot flock.

Village Voice Ed Park

Several sharp jolts give the doc its dramatic shape, and one episode in particular, caught with a neighbor's lens, will make you gasp with grief.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

In Ms. Irving's affectionate film, Mr. Bittner is more of a sage than a deadbeat.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A loving, dopey documentary about the bird man of a place with a view of Alcatraz.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Though Bittner's slacker charm may not be to all tastes, the parrots are natural-born scene-stealers with more than enough charm to seduce the most dubious viewer.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 30 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mark K. gave it an8:
A nice documentary! Try to push March of the Penguins out for your memory, and you will enjoy it more.

Connie H. gave it a10:
Being the owner of a Blue Crowned and White Eyed conure this movie moved me to tears. It showed the individual personalities of each one of these birds. They are so similar to human being in that they love their mates and nuture their young. They truly are intelligent, magnificient creatures.

L. Maier gave it a10:
This movie gives the truest human response to our species as having 'dominion over the animals.' We are here to nuture, to support and to commune with our neighbors of this earth. And, as one who has recently inherited and has been getting to know a parrot, I know Mark knows the deeply gentle spirituality of this species, and the great (and hidden) gift they are to this world.

Chad S. gave it a7:
"The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" might've benefited by a word or two by those "Draconian enviromentalists". We love the pretty birds, but if they're doing harm to the native bird population, do you just ignore it because the subject of this sometimes engaging documentary is a nice guy. There's a tremendous irony in Mark Bittner's acknowledgment of the more common local birds towards the end of the film, because it's like he's looking back on his previous incarnation as a "dharma bum", embodied by these birds who blend into the San Francisco landscape without notice. Like the birds, Bittner was anonymous. Now he's more like a parrot. Even though his observations of the native birds plays like the filmmaker's last-ditch effort to appease the conservationists, it doesn't come close to hurting the inspiring human interest story of a Henry Darger-type getting a new lease in life.

Hugh S. gave it a10:
Excellent in every way. We have a 20 year old rescued Cherry Head so we could appreciate many of the finer nuances.

James D. gave it a10:
Great film about interacting with animals and each other. Relates information about a world we walk past every day without really seeing. All the hallmarks of great filmmaking...a story told with drama, comedy and tragedy.

Rick H. gave it a10:
One of the best films I've seen all year. At least as good as winged migration.

Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, The Shadow Distribution

Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, The
Shadow Distribution