Review of Encounters at the End of the World (2007) by Peter L — 14 Jul 2008

March of the Penguins for Philosophers.

Werner Herzog returns back to documentary cinema for another tale of our existence and the depth of human psychology. Plus penguins and seals.

The German director of the classic Fitzcarraldo, the terrifying documentary Grizzly Man, and most recently the thrilling Rescue Dawn, heads out to Antarctica for a documentary appropriately titled Encounters at the End of the World. The questions that drive Herzog in his latest tale are not about global warming or the mating habits of animals though. He find the people and the alien world below the deep of the ice shelf.

Herzog interviews the people who spend their time, and listen to the strange stories. To call things people insane would be almost a misunderstanding. They are, as they concur, crazy, but also passionate about their own existence and what made them abandon their past. These people are PhD scholars and bankers who clean dishes or fix equipment, miles away from another civilization.

Yet sometimes Herzog falls into the trap of a Discovery documentary, despite his intentions not to. He is taken in by the awe and beauty of the land that he spends just a little too much time explaining to us what goes down. Itâ??s not that it doesnâ??t deserve to be told to the rest of the world, but for Herzog it is a misstep.

Sometimes though, he finds the most curious moments in these. One particularly moving sequence has Herzog documenting a penguin who has gone mad, trekking across the Antartic shelf for current death. The scientists tell him that putting him back on path would only lead him to start all over, and as Herzog captures this tiny critter among the great land, it is awe fascinating.

In the world of Herzogâ??s documentaries, Encounters is not the best, but still has much of the curiosity that Herzog fans will desire.