There will be no intentional egg-related punning in this preview, though the temptation is overwhelming. It may be a temptation too far for this reviewer, but rest assured that every effort will be made to prevent such slips.

You might think that a 90 minute movie about egg collection would be over-egging the pudding, but somehow, and against all expectations, Timothy Wheeler’s strange documentary has a weirdly compelling narrative.

We are in the strange world of obsessives. This film could easily have been about people who fetishise the accumulation of stamps, old currency notes, vintage cars, tin cans or shoes. It just so happens that the driving, nerve-jangling compulsion here is that of birds’ eggs, but not just any old fowl or avian species. These collectors, British guys of a certain age all, are into stalking and stealing the eggs of rare species. The Fabergé egg of egg collecting in these isles is that of the Golden Eagle or Osprey.

a glimpse into the lives and minds of those perpetrating the fowl deeds…

If images of these beautiful ovoid objects being rifled, plundered; nests being emptied of their would-be chicks upsets, then this may not be the film choice for you. That said, Wheeler certainly knows how to put the “ooh ahs” into “oology” (the practise of egg collection). What he has done is to combine beautiful nature filmmaking with harder, gritty docudrama and a very personal, honest glimpse into the lives and even minds of those perpetrating the fowl deeds. Cutting pacily between poacher and gamekeeper, we get a warts-and-all glimpse into what drives those who do the stealing, and the ‘forces of good’ – those who are paid (or volunteer) to catch the oologistic miscreants. Expect lots of appropriately aerial shots of swooping, soaring and gliding birds of prey, and a generous dollop of mountain and coastal panoramas. There are bizarre moments too – clandestine footage of ‘Britain’s most successful egg collector’ (his own description) who with his deliberately distorted voice and bird-head disguise makes for one of the most scary bogeymen seen on screen (you have been warned).

Getting under the skin of the men (and they are all men) who steal rare birds’ eggs may not be a comfortable experience, but Wheeler’s gaze is necessarily unflinching. Their motivations come through and it seems it isn’t about money. Like all obsessives, there is damage here, and some of the revelations are painful to watch – this of course is about people, their broken relationships, but also about redemption. We see reformed characters struggling with the egg-related compulsions, and there are some fascinating encounters between former offenders and those who set out to stop and catch them (is there a word for the collection of egg collectors?)

With its lively original score, often wacky indie setups, and its strange balance between whimsy and pain, Wheeler’s film is never dull. Although it’s sometimes hard to watch, it feels like it is saying something very important. Definitely worth a view: I egg you on to see it!

POACHED screens on 7 September at 21.00 at APH and 8 Sep at 18.45 at The Light Cinema.

httpvh://youtu.be/2to0e8UJVEQ