Friday, July 25, 2008

Movie review: Encounters at the End of the World

A legendary filmmaker visits the mountains of madness. Along with a suicidal penguin.

By John P. Meyer

Encounters at the End of the World

Werner Herzog confirms his standing as poet laureate of men in extreme situations with "Encounters at the End of the World." In this visually stunning exploration, Herzog travels to the Antarctic community of McMurdo Station, headquarters of the National Science Foundation and home to 1,100 people during the austral summer (Oct-Feb). Over the course of his journey, Herzog examines human nature and Mother nature, juxtaposing breathtaking locations with the profound, surreal, and sometimes absurd experiences of the marine biologists, physicists, plumbers, and truck drivers who choose to form a society as far away from society as one can get.

Source: Cinema Source

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Werner Herzog injects a lot of his own personality into the Antarctica documentary, Encounters at the End of the World; and since that's the equivalent of lacing a Darwinian creation narrative with psilocybin, it makes for interesting viewing.

When the National Science Foundation and Discovery Films approached the storied auteur about filming on the vast ice-covered southernmost continent, Herzog warned them that his take on things might not be what they were expecting. He offered up, by way of example, his puzzlement over the species of ant that husbands (enslaves?) tiny beetles in order to milk them for their sugary secretions. Why - he posited to the hard science folk - does not a higher form of intelligent life - such as the chimpanzee - domesticate, say, goats, in order to ride them across the grassy savanna like hairy, banana-craving Conquistadors?

And they gave him the green light anyway.

Far more than just another fuzzy, feel-good penguin tale, Encounters depicts Antarctica from a modern, humanistic perspective, centering as it does at McMurdo Station. Here - in this enclave of 1,100 residents - we meet (through the agency of Herzog's camera crew) the men and women who choose to live in this inhospitable corner of the planet. Such as:

* Stefan: philosopher and forklift driver

* Pacheko: journeyman plumber and descendant of Incan god-kings

* Jirza: computer expert and linguist - on a continent without native languages (or, for that matter, natives)

* Doc Gorham: physicist and Hawaiian mystic

* Ainley: marine ecologist and penguin dude, who limits his verbal communication with humans to a bare minimum

Into the crater of Mt. Erebus

Herzog's visit to McMurdo and environs takes place in mid-summer (our Northern Hemispherical winter season), when there are five months without darkness. Thus, when returning from an expedition into the hinterlands, Werner and crew can only tell it's nighttime by checking the sundial - which indicates 1 a.m.

McMurdo, in Herzog's estimation, is like "an ugly mining town," replete with features which Herzog considers "abominations" - an aerobics studio, yoga classes, an ATM. The residence dormitories exhibit "a bleak Motel 6 drabness." We're introduced to "Frosty Boy," the soft-serve ice cream machine which produces frozen delicacies for the residents of a realm where 20 below defines "balmy."

Thus we are given to understand that Antarctica - while indeed a strange and decidedly alien place - has been rendered surprisingly (and sadly) comprehensible by those who have chosen to study it. It's no longer as mysterious a realm as we'd like it to be.

Biosphere beneath the ice sheet

This is not to imply that the film is not brimming over with wonder and strange beauty. From underwater dives beneath the ice sheet (referred to by participants as "going down into the cathedral"); to glimpses into the bejeweled fumaroles astride Mt. Erebus (one of the few volcanoes on Earth with an exposed lava lake in its crater); to the Pink Floyd-like songs of diving seals, Herzog reminds the viewer why mystics and scientists alike are drawn to this forbidding far side of creation.

The fact that the most memorable encounter of the narrative involves a penguin - even after Herzog's declared intent to steer clear of the creatures - adds a final dusting of irony to this deeply thoughtful confection of a film.

EVER THE OPTIMIST: "Our technical civilization makes us particularly vulnerable." - Herzog, re. the anticipated effects of climate change or other environmental catastrophe

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