Hummingbirds construct their nests using spiderwebs and human hair, allowing the structure to expand as the tiny chicks inside grow. The parents decorate using flecks of paint from the nearest human dwelling. They are complicated little beings, capable of multidirectional, gravity-defying speeds and gymnastics. And they are captured in all their tiny majesty by the film-maker Sally Aitken (and the cinematographers Nathan Barlow, Dan Freene and Ann Johnson Prum) in this gorgeous macro-lensed, life-affirming documentary.
The winged cast includes little motherless Jimmy, who fell out of his nest; Sugar Baby, who has been damaged by the family who found her; and Mikhail, who shares a cage with his love interest, Alexa, oblivious to the fact that she is an entirely different species. These hummingbirds are joined by Cactus, Wasabi and Raisin at the Beverly Hills home of Terry Masear, a species specialist.
The job requires surgical precision. Orphaned babies are fed through tiny catheters. Wings are bathed with cotton buds. “If they don’t do everything right, they die,” she says.
Aitken, who previously profiled the scuba diver turned conservationist Valerie Taylor in Playing with Sharks, her 2021 documentary, has found another wonder woman worthy of our attention.
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Every Little Thing, inspired by Masear’s 2016 memoir, Fastest Things on Wings, outlines the hummingbird healer’s ideas about giving back to nature and her complicated backstory. A survivor of an abusive childhood in Wisconsin and subsequent addiction, she found happiness with her “genius” husband, Frank, and a calling in her flapping charges.
She has “stayed the course” after Frank’s death and tended to hummingbirds for almost two decades. She makes for warm and wise company. Her tranquil, caring home, surrounded by orchids and rehabilitation cages, is to hummingbirds what Aitken’s soothing film is to humans.
Every Little Thing is available on demand from Friday, October 18th
