20130829: Documentary Review--Titanoboa Monster Snake

Titanoboa Monster Snake

1. American live action feature film, 92 minutes, NR, 2012
2. IMDB: 7.2/10.0 from 46 users.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet' and no audience ratings. From Jeff Gemmill, Rovi, 'This program from The Smithsonian Channel examines the discovery in a Colombian coal mine of a prehistoric fossil of a 48-foot, 2500-pound snake.'
4. Directed by Martin Kemp.
5. Filmed in Cerrehon, Colombia; the Llanos, Venezuela; University of Florida, and Indiana University, Bloomington.
6. Principal interviews:
7. Dr. Jonathan Bloch, Associate Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, University of Florida
8. Dr. Jason Head, Assistant Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology, University of Nebraska
9. Dr. Carlos Jaramillo, Paleobotanist, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
10. Dr. P David Polly, Vertebrate Paleontologist, Indiana University, Bloomington
11. Outline of the process:
12. Dr. Bloch and some of his graduate students were looking for fossils in a huge coal mining site in Cerrehon.  Dating methods showed the strata to be around 60 million years old, about 5 million years after the dinosaurs.  They found some snake vertebrae.  Dr Bloch consulted with Dr Head, and the hunt was on.  It was clear that the whole snake was likely the biggest one ever found.  Among living snakes, the record is 28.5 feet on an Asian python.  Among historic snakes, Dr Head had found a 33 foot species in fossil beds in Africa.  So this was quite a find.
13. More vertebrae were unearthed.  More experts were called in, and the closest living relatives were determined from morphological comparisons.  Eventually parts of the skull were found, as were fossilized eggs.
14. Putting the puzzle together, they determined the large size (48 feet, ~2500 pounds) and put together a 3-d model for museum display purposes.  Working with a paleobotanist, they determined that the snake lived in an era of high temperatures, allowing for the additional size.
15. Also found were the shell and bones of a turtle as big as a large dining room table.  On this shell were bite marks from a crocodile larger than any yet found.  Its fossils were not discovered yet. 
16. Going forward, the researchers figured they had unearthed a sufficient set from the current strata in the cola mine.  They expected to find new discoveries as the coal miners dug deeper.
17. Five stars of five.

Cinematography: 10/10 Seldom disappointed, usually superb.

Sound: 10/10 No complaints.

Screenplay: 10/10 Well constructed and engaging.