Life and Other Problems

In 2014, a young male giraffe dubbed Marius was euthanised in order to ensure the genetic diversity of the captive breeding programme. The planned killing triggered an international outcry. Filmmaker Max Kestner used it to pose questions about the value of life. What is life? What is consciousness? And are humans really as unique among living creatures as we believe them to be? With an almost childlike curiosity and free from moralising, the director interviewed scientists working in ecology, evolution, microbiology, and the neurosciences. But he also reflects on his relationship to his growing children, kinship and cohabitation. The film is a kaleidoscope of impressions, juxtaposing graphic depictions of a giraffe necropsy with microscopic images of bacteria in motion and interviews recorded in dense forests and vast landscapes. The result is a savage mosaic examining no less a question than the meaning of our existence.