Encounters at the End of the World - B+

On DVD (2008). Rated G, 101 minutes. Trailer.

Writer/Director Werner Herzog (Rescue Dawn, Grizzly Man) is clearly fascinated with humans - our own behavior and our place in the cosmos. Grizzly Man is the story of Timothy Treadwell, a slightly deranged man that lived among grizzly bears in Alaska and was eaten while doing so (on camera). In that film, Herzog studies his subject as his subject studied the bears - detached and wary. In Encounters at the End of the World, he studies Antarctica's humans, animals and eons of history (and future) as a man with an existential bee in his bonnet. Nominated this year for Best Documentary, the film is a Malick-esque meditation on human behavior and its interaction with nature. Click below for more on a film with fascinating sentences:

Herzog serves as narrator of the film as he begins in McMurdo station - the largest 'city' on the continent (population 1,258) with a host of fascinating characters. He interviews all kinds in McMurdo, attracted to the story of how they ended up at such a far flung place. The stories are inevitably interesting and remote as they convey an inner restlessness or sense of discovery in each of the tellers. As Herzog ventures out of McMurdo, he visits a camp of scientists studying seals, a diving camp and a group of volcanologists on Mount Erebus. Each of these vignettes sees Herzog digging into humanity's past and future and sees him trying to fix our place in the history of the earth and in evolution. He is also fascinated with unexplained behavior among the species, particularly penguins - the most challenging and intriguing part of the film - especially in light of the far flung nature of the "Antarcticans" and his previous subject, Timothy Treadwell.

This is a definite "think-piece" and he lets you know it right up front as he poses a series of philosophical questions he wants to answer, including "Why doesn't a monkey straddle a goat and ride off into the sunset?" (I told you there were fascinating sentences). Herzog does a great job capturing the spooky underwater worlds and the lunar-like McMurdo. His eye for interesting subjects is sharp and the people interviewed in the film all add to the feel of the film. I am in tune with his worldview and struggle with much of the same questions he seems to be dealing with, therefore I found the film a welcome thought provocation. Great, haunting music.