garykevin Rarely do I want to see a movie twice but when I keep thinking about a movie the day after seeing it and want to watch it again, I know I have found a special film. This movie worked on me in so many ways. At first I didn't even like the main (human) character. I thought he was a lazy bum. But as I watched him I grew jealous of him. He lives his own life and he does good things for others. How many people can say that! On top of the main character, the film moves at a good pace and the story is very entertaining. The plot captures you and the other actors (the parrots) are so good at showing their personalities. The music is excellent. I won't say much more because I do not want to spoil the story but this film is great for anyone, adults or children. And if you love birds, then you must watch this film but make sure you have a hankie available. One of the best films I have ever seen. BTW, I saw it by downloading it from Netflix.

kayaugust The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill is the best DVD I have purchased so far! A generous bohemian named Mark Bittner befriends and offers sunflower seeds to a flock of Wild Parrots. Many of the parrots become tamer and respond to his generosity and to the care he provides when they become ill. At those times he nurses them back to health in his small home in San Francisco.The DVD docudrama has moments of joy, comedy and wonder. There are also times of sadness. In general it embraces the lives of a flock of wild cherry-headed conures where the stars are the flock of parrots and those who care about them.

Danusha_Goska Save Send Delete The buzz about "Wild Parrots" is that it is a heartwarming portrait of a gentle man's bittersweet love affair with beautiful parrots.Well, okay, if that's the movie you saw, great.The "Wild Parrots" I saw was disappointing.The least I expect from any filmmaker is honesty. If you use your camera to ferret out truths that most of us miss, and present those truths articulately and in an interesting way to others, you work deserves a showing, no matter its topic. I love birds and haven't much interest in sports and would rather watch an insightful sports documentary than a movie about birds that plays it safe and fudges its story."Wild Parrots" follows forty something San Franciscan Mark Bittner's relationship with a flock of feral parrots that live on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. Bittner spends much of his time hand feeding the birds and observing their behavior. Bittner, who is of sound mind and body but declines to work, lives rent-free in a cottage owned by people who apparently do work.The documentary's drama comes when the cottage owners decide that they must renovate the cottage. Given how extensively it needs to be renovated, they ask Bittner to leave.Bittner is shown weeping on camera. He gives away Mingus, a parrot he had living in the cottage with him. He says goodbye to Conner, a lone member of a species that is different from the rest of the flock. Conner had never been able to find a mate (a hard thing for a parrot, as they are very social) and Bittner had performed some mate-like functions for Conner, for example grooming him.Mingus is sent to live in a facility for abandoned parrots, and lonely Conner, after appearing to mourn Bittner's departure, dies tragically.The movie wants us to believe that Bittner is being victimized by the couple who asked him to leave their cottage, where he had lived for years without paying any rent. The movie wants us to believe that Mingus and Conner's sad fate is all the fault of the evil landlords.Oh, baloney.Bittner makes it clear that he has long refused to work for a living, preferring what he calls a more "spiritual" and "pure" lifestyle. Jesus was a carpenter . . . but that kind of labor is not good enough for Mark Bittner.Bittner could have gotten a job, enabled himself to pay rent, moved to a new apartment, and taken Mingus with him. After Bittner was evicted, he was taken in by friends in the East Bay. He was a short public transportation ride away from the parrot flock. He could have easily continued to visit the wild parrots; Conner did not have to mourn him.I've lived in the Bay Area. I met many who didn't work, and who didn't pay rent. These folks often announced themselves as above such pedestrian concerns as, oh, paying money for the food they ate, or contributing to society through labor. These folks often sponged off of their parents and friends. They often disappointed their loved ones and children. Like Bittner, they always had quotes from Zen scriptures at the ready to make themselves sound deep.Maybe there is a good reason why Bittner could not work, or live up to his commitments even to a flock of birds. The film never explores that question, though. It accepts, without any curiosity, Bittner's self description as a man too spiritual to work. The filmmaker became lovers with Bittner. Even so, women have been able, in the past, to explore the truths, both the benign truths and the hard truths, of their lovers' lives. That's what art is for, even art about parrots.The film doesn't even look very hard at the parrots it captures in its frame. There are very difficult to watch scenes of parrots attacking an injured flock member. No theory is offered as to why this happens.Any film featuring footage of parrots, other birds, and the sun on San Francisco Bay can't be all bad; "Wild Parrots" is beautiful. I just wish "Wild Parrots" had had a little bit more courage, a tad more curiosity, and some honesty. If the film had been more probing, and more honest, about both Bittner and the parrots, I'm sure I would have liked him, the birds, and the film much more.

ejavignon I just finished watching the DVD. We have flocks of the same birds down here in Southern California that are always fun to watch in the palm trees (I think that Mark Bittner was right in saying that these are monkeys more than they are birds). I never knew much about them; I just assumed they were migratory flocks from Mexico. The way this film took a simple story--an eccentric with a thing for wild parrots--and wove it into a larger lesson about existing in a universe that is bigger than any of us as individuals, was masterful. This is not a documentary about wildlife as much as it is a parable about our connection with everything that surrounds us. I am normally a cynic, but I found this film to be very moving. If only more people were able to slow down and feed the birds.