Mikrokosmos - Das Volk der Graeser (1996)

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.
The camera flies over the tops of the woods away up to a clearing, sinks deeper and deeper down into the meadow and suddenly plunges into the jungle of grasses. The music stops abruptly, it is only the deafening "noise jungle" of these grasslands to hear, while a grasshopper emporkrabbelt a blade of grass. We observe at close hand, as on a sunny morning dew a water drop slowly dries on a blade of grass or a spider web, an ant is drinking from such a drop. A beautiful butterfly emerges from its pupa and slowly unfolds its wings.

Specials:
Making of, Interviews (Bonusdisc 1h 35 Min.)


IMDB