Fiction flexes its muscle by lifting us out of ourselves and taking us on a journey. Nonfiction can be equally transporting when it leads us far from our conventional lives, not just peeping at “real” housewives or war zones, but really away — like into the treetops of west Papua, New Guinea, where the Korowai people build houses and live in extended communities 10 stories above the forest floor.
They haul, craft and call home gigantic wooden structures that sway a bit, but offer unspoiled views.
The Korowai wouldn’t think of living any less rigorously. They’ve always done it that way. It’s who they are. The higher a man’s home, the higher his social status, they believe.
Then there are the Wodaabe of Niger, whose ritualized courtship dance puts eHarmony to shame: The men flutter their lips, expose their teeth and pose like egrets. The women find that fetching. That’s just how it’s done.
“Human Planet,” a six-part BBC/Discovery co-production from the folks who gave us the natural-science epics “Life” and “Planet Earth,” debuts at 7 p.m. Sunday on Discovery.
“Life” dipped into biology, exploring plant and animal behavior; “Planet Earth” documented oceans, jungles and other natural phenomena. “Human Planet” is more anthropology mixed with natural science, focusing on our fellow Homo sapiens who live with extreme privations and challenges.
First up: life at high altitudes. And they’re not talking Vail Village. In “Mountains,” an Ethiopian cliff farmer’s son fends off an attack by a troop of Gelada baboons out to destroy the family’s crops.
Home is where the heart is. Also the hearth. Whether in the trees, in an ice cave or across the desert, the idea is adaptability for survival. Stop complaining about finding parking; chances are you don’t have to risk your life to find dinner.
This is glorious natural history, quietly eye-popping, particularly in high-definition.
Fellow humans attest to the perseverance of the species. We do what we have to do to get by. As the Wodaabe womenfolk know each time the fertility clock strikes, it is what it is.
It’s tough to say who is more admirable, the Tubu women and children who routinely cross the Sahara to collect water from a single well, using only the stars and dunes for navigation; the Inuits of northeast Canada who track tides to harvest mussels and risk being trapped beneath the ice; or the Kenyan kids who use birds to hunt for honey while braving African killer bees.
All are humbling cohabitants of the planet. And you thought you were doing well to remember recycled bags for the grocery store.
The series has a lot to say, without overworking the point, about instances of humans staying connected to the earth, people who live in sync with the environment and the ingenuity of folks who’ve landed in dangerous, inaccessible and otherwise tough spots.
The tough and patient cinematographers will win awards, but the brave humans featured here should win respect.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
