With the fate of the planet very much on the minds of humanity these days it is inevitable that someone will tell us buying X, Y or Z will save it. I recently read Elle Canada's "green issue" and it's great that they are providing a venue for environmentally conscious fashion, but in the end the goal is still to sell you stuff. I have the same issues with film and television programs that try to ram the environment down your throat in an overly pretty, "strum the heartstrings of the masses," nostalgic, buzzword manner. Something must be done. Really? What? Buy stuff!
Because of this I value films that attempt a different perspective, even if that perspective is a little off kilter. Werner Herzog goes to the Antarctic in "Encounters at the End of the World" and what he finds is beautiful and resonant, but it is not the Disneyfied place presented in "March of the Penguins." Pot shots at Penguin movies aside, the Antarctic we are shown in this film is a place of dreamers, misfits, thinkers and travelers who are connected to the land through scientific research or random chance.
Among many other narratives, we move from a tableau of scientists with their ears pressed to the ice to hear the sounds of Weddell seals below, to a linguist turned gardener who laments the death of a language and his PHD, to a bus driver who was once chased by Mayans with machetes. Cold water divers suit up to explore under the ice, relying on their own sensibilities to guide them back to the light in an environment where compasses are useless. A physicist sends a massive balloon into the edges of the atmosphere to study particles connected to the origin of the universe. These people are joined in the richness of their stories and their awe and respect for the place they have found themselves in. Mr. Herzog wonders if penguins go insane, and proves in his footage that they do.
Mr. Herzog also claims fatalistically that humanity's time on earth is ending, and we are soon to go the way of the dinosaurs. The film does not tell us what to do or lament our passing, but rather it celebrates our intellectual achievements and puts us into a sublime moment and place in a changing world.
5 comments:
ran across your blog - I really enjoyed it! Great pics too btw - love the style. :)
Ah yes...the trendy, contradictory environmental movement irks me as well.
But anyways, that film sounds very beatiful and facinating, I will have to try and track that down.
What sort of work doyou do in the film industry?
I should really make it out to Ridge Theater to see this but I am sure will wait to rent, it looks so good. Werner Herzog is a great director, Rescue Dawn was so amazing and had some great extra content on the dvd, Mr. Herzog was getting right in there doing everything he expects his actors and crew to do.
Emerald: It's playing at the Ridge, and it probably won't be there long! I swore off the Ridge for awhile because the seats were horrendous, but they have installed more comfortable ones now.
I work for a feature film distribution company but I also work in production, and do some corporate video work as well as fitting in my own projects when there's time.
That photo really makes me want to watch The Life Acquatic!
Amazing post, by the way!
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