Review of Encounters at the End of the World (2007) by Miles H — 15 Jul 2008
After the sylistic confusion of "Rescue Dawn", Herzog gets back to his filmic roots and delivers a fine documentary that, while not as devastating and epic as his recent "Grizzly Man", is undeniably moving and fascinating.
It takes a little while for the ball to get rolling though. Herzog succeeds in illustrating the desparities of McMurdo, an ugly and bizarre settlement on the Antarctic Coast, but gets sidetracked at times.
His interviews with the people, however, grow increasingly interesting, and soon it becomes clear that what he is really going after is a certain type of mind, one that has fallen off the edge of the map, off the table, and wound up in Antarctica, perhaps the most underexplored, weird slice of land left on the Earth.
However, that's not to say the landscape doesn't get it's moment in the sun. Herzog's footage of volcanos, alien-like sea creatures, and native animals is mind-blowingly awesome. All in all, it's not Herzog's greatest, but it's one of the most interesting and more memorable films to come out this year.
The electro-like sounds of seals will ring in your ears for hours...
This review of Encounters at the End of the World (2007) was written by Miles H on 15 Jul 2008.
Encounters at the End of the World has generally received very positive reviews.
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