Encounters at the End of the World [DVD]

Werner Herzog is one of those unique directors that never give you quite what you expect, but always satisfy. This film, in amazingly clear and crisp "blu-ray" makes you feel as if you are on Antarctica and underwater. In fact, you feel every scene as Hertoz has a talent of pulling you into the picture. There is no dispute that a blu-ray player and a good flat screen television is just about as great an experience that you can achieve nowadays and Herzog takes it to task.

The scenes are massive in scale and include glaciers, mountains, underwater breathtaking scenes, human interaction and a thorough dissection of the land and the people that occupy this one outpost. Hertoz narrates the film with not just his comments on the amazing scenery, but his personal interactions with the people living there to study. There is plenty of heartbreaking and amazing history throughout the film (i.e., Shackleton's journey). The characters are both normal and odd. Traveling to this location in a huge specialized plane shows the crew in each of their unique positions; sleeping in bags on the floor, strapped into less than comfortable looking chairs, tents set up inside the aircraft, conversations both normal and strange. At times explaining their interest in the areas conditions and their own methods of survival - some of which are quite funny, if the consequences of dying were not so real.

The cinematography is the real star here and with copious amounts of blue and white surrounding you, the feeling is surreal. There are no cute penguins or whales, just great shots of bizarre looking starfish that move and clams that snap open and shut as they travel through the water. The underwater visibility is impeccably clear. The ice cutting, severe wind and blizzards make the experience real. This is another place with unique individuals all filmed in magically and frightening real circumstances.

In Herzog's first documentary since Grizzly Man, the masterful director ventures deep into Antarctica, in search of a community formed of fringe scientists who live for the study of the local wildlife.

Through a series of interviews and archive footage, we get into the mindset of these great minds who cut themselves off from the rest of the world for the love of what they do. Understandably, many of the residents live up the
now well-established Herzog muse; walking the tightrope between genius and insanity.

The animals themselves are also explored in great depth, with the deranged penguin being a particular highlight, as the director explores the notion of insanity in the animal kingdom. The cinematography is also sublime, matching anything seen in Planet Earth or similar.

Once again, Herzog himself provides a voice-over with the kind of voice you could listen to all day, and at certain times makes observations that are laugh out loud funny - "Why is it that a monkey should choose not to mount a goat and ride off into the sunset?"

Even if you're not familiar with the director's previous work, Encounters at the End of the World is well worth checking out and would make a perfect present for any member of the family.

Werner Herzog is the sort of guy who seems to be able to turn his hand to anything. He is a pretty decent film director/producer of both features and documentaries. I can't wait to see his latest offering "Cave of Forgotten Dreams". He can act a bit, writes books and screenplays and is an accomplished opera director. He no doubt also cooks a mean sunday roast, or whatever the German equivalent is. Now at the ripe old age sixty eight he still keeps himself gainfully employed. With advancing years he seems to have become more reflective. What is mans future and his place in the Cosmos? Questions which are picked over in this fascinating documentary. As Herzog points out early on, this is not another documentary about fluffy penguins! Indeed, could we take another!

Much of the documentary is spent interviewing the mostly American population who inhabit the McMurdo Station in Antarctica. This seems to be quite a sizeable settlement sitting on the worlds white bottom. The denizens happen to be an interesting bunch, many of whom are homespun philosophers. It seems that Antarctica draws the types who do not like to let the moss grow under their feet, and many have fascinating tales to relate. Herzog shows some documentary footage of early explorers in McMurdo sound to illustrate just how much things have changed. In Shackleton's day it was a question of survival, but fast forward to today and McMurdo station can boast such abominations, Herzog's words not mine, as yoga classes, a bowling alley and even an ATM machine. It is worth watching Shackleton's own film of the expedition "South", which has been nicely restored by the BFI to fully understand just how much things have changed. Perhaps funniest was the sight of grown men with white buckets over their heads to simulate a white out. The documentary is beautifully shot by cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger, who had a whole wonderland of natural phenomena to play with. There is incredible film taken in the waters under the ice amongst the most astonishingly coloured jellyfish. I was also fascinated by the film taken in the passages made by the fumaroles, or natural vents around the slopes of the active volcano Erebus.

It is impossible even for Herzog to visit Antarctica without taking some film of wildlife, so there is the odd penguin and seal that creeps inevitably into camera shot. Most sobering was the sight of the silent divers preparing for a dive, with Herzog comparing them to priests deep in contemplation. Then we see the divers swimming in the great silence beneath the ice that seems to form natural vaults over them in what becomes a cathedral to the beauty of the natural world. With the threat of global warming it is real possibility that we may lose all this. Sadly it is only a few of us that will be privileged to visit "The Last Continent". Herzog's documentary is both interesting and beautiful to look at. It also has something important to say.