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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:DVD
This documentary is beautifully filmed in a very clear, creative and spacious style, which I loved. 180 South shows what wonderful adventures can occur when you follow your bliss.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
48 reviews
12 of 16 people found the following review helpful
What's Useless About It?
15 Jun 2010
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
This movie is a documentary, but it's a little hard to categorize. I think I'd really call it a POLEMIC- against Western capitalist culture, which is dominating most of the world at present (since even so-called "third world" countries are intent on emulating the successes of capitalism). How DO you describe a movie that encompasses sailing, surfing, mountain-climbing, retracing a climb made in 1968 by world-class climbers, lectures about the evils of dams and environmental destruction, a commercial plug for protecting Patagonia, the history of Easter Island, and philosophical musings and mumblings, all wrapped together and packaged with some of the most idiosyncratic music score I've ever listened to in a movie? [I don't know what to call this music-it's mostly one-voice, accompanied by guitar or other simple instrumentals-it sounds sort of folksy-rustic-country, but nothing that I've ever heard before. Sometimes it was irritating, and sometimes I really enjoyed it].
The subtitle, Conquerors of the Useless, refers principally to the whole activity of mountain-climbing. Risking your very life--for what? To stand for a few minutes or an hour on top of a piece of rock, then climb back down again. Does the world need this activity? Why do some people feel compelled to do it (or so many other extreme things that we seem compelled to do, for no clear gain) That becomes a metaphor for the whole question of what is "useful" and what is "useless"--for the world, for mankind as a species, for our survival.
The narrator solemnly asserts things like, "I'm beginning to think...(you know, differently about the world). I'm rather suspicious that he more or less had these same views before he even set out on his journey, and simply used the journey to reinforce them. But-no matter. The issues are serious and relevant. Now, after the gulf oil spill, the whole debate about how we use our environment, and whether we have a sustainable civilization at all, certainly seems more highly relevant today than when this film was made.
Hard to characterize. Serious and whimsical. Focused and unfocused. Some beautiful scenery. My favorite quote is not the obvious one (on the cover) but "It's really very difficult to simplify your life. It's very easy to let it become complex." If you are an ardent environmentalist you'll probably enjoy the film. If you are not an environmentalist, then try watching it with an open mind. You really do not have to believe everything the narrator asserts to find this film interesting. It could be the starting-point of a hundred arguments or discussions (a great film actually, for various college-level classes to discuss).
The subtitle, Conquerors of the Useless, refers principally to the whole activity of mountain-climbing. Risking your very life--for what? To stand for a few minutes or an hour on top of a piece of rock, then climb back down again. Does the world need this activity? Why do some people feel compelled to do it (or so many other extreme things that we seem compelled to do, for no clear gain) That becomes a metaphor for the whole question of what is "useful" and what is "useless"--for the world, for mankind as a species, for our survival.
The narrator solemnly asserts things like, "I'm beginning to think...(you know, differently about the world). I'm rather suspicious that he more or less had these same views before he even set out on his journey, and simply used the journey to reinforce them. But-no matter. The issues are serious and relevant. Now, after the gulf oil spill, the whole debate about how we use our environment, and whether we have a sustainable civilization at all, certainly seems more highly relevant today than when this film was made.
Hard to characterize. Serious and whimsical. Focused and unfocused. Some beautiful scenery. My favorite quote is not the obvious one (on the cover) but "It's really very difficult to simplify your life. It's very easy to let it become complex." If you are an ardent environmentalist you'll probably enjoy the film. If you are not an environmentalist, then try watching it with an open mind. You really do not have to believe everything the narrator asserts to find this film interesting. It could be the starting-point of a hundred arguments or discussions (a great film actually, for various college-level classes to discuss).
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Love their adventurous spirit
11 July 2011
Many reviewers have complained about the hippie message proposed by 180 Degrees South, and maybe they are right. Maybe the message is a little confusing: do we all limit our consumption, and just go explore the world, or do we try and make things better right where we are? Can one actually explore the world and still make a difference, or does staying at home and not exploring pristine places like Patagonia a better way to preserve?
But I did not watch the movie to find out the answers to how consumption hurts our environment. I watched it because the movie was an adventure into the relatively unknown. The narrator could have just hopped a plane from his hometown down to Corcovado, but he didn't. That would have been the easiest way to go, but instead he stowed away on a sailboat and took weeks traveling down the Pacific coast, with a side trip to Rapa Nui. That in a nutshell signifies the mantra "The Journey Is the Destination".
Yes, there are a few eco-political statements throughout the movie, and if you absolutely can't stand a liberal mindset, then you will not enjoy this movie. But I enjoyed the adventurous spirit of a few guys (and one girl) just taking whatever comes at them on a journey that very few people have attempted, and very few of us that watch will ever attempt ourselves.
But I did not watch the movie to find out the answers to how consumption hurts our environment. I watched it because the movie was an adventure into the relatively unknown. The narrator could have just hopped a plane from his hometown down to Corcovado, but he didn't. That would have been the easiest way to go, but instead he stowed away on a sailboat and took weeks traveling down the Pacific coast, with a side trip to Rapa Nui. That in a nutshell signifies the mantra "The Journey Is the Destination".
Yes, there are a few eco-political statements throughout the movie, and if you absolutely can't stand a liberal mindset, then you will not enjoy this movie. But I enjoyed the adventurous spirit of a few guys (and one girl) just taking whatever comes at them on a journey that very few people have attempted, and very few of us that watch will ever attempt ourselves.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
180 degress south
9 Mar 2011
Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase
excellent...outstanding...motivational...a must see for anyone who may have the slightest sense and/or desire for an adventure...screw luck and embrace karma
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