Review of Encounters at the End of the World (2007) by Andrew G — 11 Jan 2009

The movie poster and tagline for "Encounters at the End of the World" would have you believe it's a movie about Antarctica. But that's only true in the sense that "Munich" is about Germany or "Brokeback Mountain" is about Wyoming.

Instead, the movie is about the people who choose to live their lives on the bizarre continent that is Antarctica - where daylight lasts for 6 months, temperatures are so low it rarely snows, and seals sing to each other with alien voices.

Most importantly, the film is an examination of human kind and its place on this planet. The people in Antarctica are a rare kind in that they have chosen to live in a place so inherently dangerous that it is both literally and figuratively at the end of the world.

The researchers and laborers living at the camp tell stories of their close encounters with death: one lady was almost blown up in eastern Africa, a man was nearly macheted to death in the Amazon, and volcanologists have narrowly avoided being killed by flying lava.

I think perhaps many of these characters would be called insane for risking their lives. But these people are drawn to Antarctica by the promise of adventure and discovery. Is it crazy to seek knowledge? Is it crazy to risk death for it? Is it crazy to want to see the ends of the Earth, even if you don't live to tell the tale? One of the scientists director Herzog meets is a biologist studying penguins.

He asks him if penguins ever go insane. The researcher responds that sometimes a penguin will get disoriented and walk away from the coastline and towards the mountains of the continent's interior, a direction that will lead to certain death.

Man is also heading for a certain death, and we best use our time on this planet to wonder and dream and explore all we can. Maybe the penguin's not disoriented at all; maybe he just wants to spend his short time on Earth at the End of the World.

I couldn't agree more.