ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD

SHOWTIMES

 

The South Pole has lured scientists, adventurers and eccentrics ever since Ernest Shackleton ventured there a century ago. It seems inevitable that Werner Herzog should make his own South Pole exploration. In documentaries such as Grizzly Man and Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Herzog has proven to be our cinematic poet laureate of people living in extremes. In Encounters at the End of the World, Herzog travels to the Antarctic community of McMurdo Station, on Ross Island, the headquarters for the National Science Foundation and home to 1,100 people during the austral summer (October to February). Beyond the settlement, he ventures through a science-fiction landscape, from the under-ice depths of the Ross Sea, to the brink of the Mount Erebus volcano. Herzog’s encounters are alternately surreal, absurd, and profound: McMurdo newcomers train by covering their heads with buckets – to simulate blizzard blindness – and stumble through the snow practising life-or-death scenarios, and a team of underwater scientists casually discovers three new species of life in one day. Herzog’s unmistakable voice ruminates on themes characteristic of his oeuvre, such as the mystery and malevolence of nature. At other times, he withholds commentary, leaving us to ponder sights from the end of the earth, set to a soundtrack of choral music. It’s enough to leave anyone speechless.  USA, 2007, 99 min.