Encounters at the End of the World
by Werner Herzog
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Actor: David Ainley, Kevin Emery, Regina Eisert, Ryan Andrew Evans, Samuel S. BowserDirector: Werner Herzog
Brand: Image Entertainment
Writer: Werner Herzog
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 99 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-11-18
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Image Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Encounters at the End of the World
DVD Review: a place where the ordinary and extraordinary meet
Summary: 4 Stars
"Encounters at the End of the World" is the latest in a long line of outstanding documentaries by German director Werner Herzog, a filmmaker who knows how to take the raw material of nature and turn it into art. Herzog was so moved and impressed when he saw some underwater footage taken off the coast of Antarctica that he felt compelled to head south to record his own unique vision of that part of the world. The result is a movie that is part pure aesthetics and part hard-edged science - part poetry and part prose.
The poetry comes in the stark beauty of a frozen landscape, extending as far back as the eye can see - or in the spellbinding eeriness of an underwater world inhabited by strange and exotic creatures never before seen by the human eye. The prose can be found in the drab and "functional" National Science Foundation headquarters, which with its clapboard buildings and dozens of caterpillar tractors tearing up the countryside, possesses all the beauty and splendor of a strip mining operation. The prosaic also finds voice in the daily routines of the men and women who live and work there, as they spend their off-hours eating in cafeterias, going to bars, playing guitar, watching old science fiction movies on T.V. In fact, Herzog seems almost more interested in trying to figure out what makes these particular individuals "tick" than in recording the wonders of the world around him. Much of the time is spent interviewing these intrepid souls, trying to determine why they have chosen what is probably the most brutally harsh and least habitable spot on the planet to call home. Herzog discovers that while some, of course, have been brought there for purposes of scientific research, others, explorers and drifters by nature, seem to have simply run out of any more places to explore and drift to. Herzog doesn't really give us a chance to get to know any one individual in depth, but the brief comments we do get are often eye-opening and fascinating to say the least.
Of course, Herzog's film is at its richest and most compelling when it is focusing on the almost indescribable beauty of the place and the creatures that inhabit it. Like a master painter, Herzog uses his camera - and the musical score by Henry Kaiser and David Lindley - to create art out of the basic elements of nature and life. We watch breathlessly as the camera glides ever so slowly along the bottom of a frigid bay, the myriad fascinating creatures that thrive there going about their business beneath a roof of rock-solid ice. Even something as simple as air bubbles, forming and reforming themselves into endless gelatinous shapes as they lay trapped under the ice, becomes a vision of unsurpassing beauty. There are moments of great poignancy, as when a disoriented penguin races inexorably and inexplicably towards the interior of the continent to face certain doom - and of great excitement as a team of biologists discover a hitherto unknown species of fauna on the ocean floor.
He also includes a generous helping of clips from Shackleton's breakthrough expedition in the early 20th Century, and even takes us into the little "museum" that has been set up in commemoration of the event. We also travel along with a group of volcanologists as they explore a nearby crater, then head to the actual South Pole where we find an assortment of trinkets set up in permanent display in an underground tunnel there - almost like a time capsule frozen in ice for some future species or perhaps some extraterrestrial visitor to our planet to one day discover. Finally, we listen to the otherworldly sound of seals and seal lions as they swim and go about their lives under the ice.
And over all this lies Herzog's narration, which at times borders on the portentous, as he sternly reminds us that our reign as a species on this planet may soon be coming to an end.
Although there are countless moments of awe-inspiring wonder in the film, it is the constant juxtaposition between the ethereal and the mundane that gives "Encounters at the End of the World" its own distinctive raison d'etre.
Description of Encounters at the End of the World
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