I went down to downtown DC's local 'art film' theater this week to catch a showing of Werner Herzog's new movie, Encounters at the End of the World (IMDB, Netflix, trailer).

The movie is a documentary about Herzog's visit to Antarctica in the austral summer of 2006. It is not a scientific movie, but many of the people Herzog talks to are scientists. His thesis is that these people have got to be pretty wacky to go all the way to Antartica and hang out there. This thesis has plenty of supporting evidence, no doubt about it. But the movie is at its strongest when it just shows incredible imagery, set to an odd soundtrack that Herzog has chosen (lots of choirs, but also some Tuvan throat-singing, it sounds like).

There are some hilarious moments in the movie, and some contemplative ones, and some uncomfortable ones. If you've never seen a Herzog movie, maybe you should go familiarize yourself with his style by watching Grizzly Man or Little Dieter Needs To Fly. I'm of the opinion that Herzog is a talented director in the sense of having a vision, and pursuing his filiming to enact that vision. But his technical choices sometimes leave the impression that he's sloppy: lots of too-quick camera pans (which results in lack of optical focus), or too-long unedited sequences that would be more coherent with some selective editing. Regardless of these snipes, I always enjoy watching his movies because he chooses interesting subject matter. Encounters reminded me of his 1971 film Fata Morgana, which was about the Sahara (again, lots of long shots of beautiful austere landscapes, set to an incongruous soundtrack-- in this case Leonard Cohen and a Mayan creation myth), with the exception that he seems to have relaxed in his old age, and lightened up a bit. In Encounters, it's not all doom and gloom; He's equally comfortable speaking about how a penguin's insanity will lead to its "certain death" in the Antarctic interior and (in an exasperated tone) how McMurdo Station includes "such abominations" as a yoga studio.

Thanks to Dean K. for recommending the movie to me.
Have you seen it? What did you think? Chime in below in the comments section.

Labels: antarctica, movies