Die verbotene Frage

Certainly one of the best fantasy/Sci-Fi films I have ever seen, a fantastic idea executed to perfection. The intermingling of archival footage and live acting to weave a tale of epic adventure near the turn of the (last) century is both compelling and inspired. I'm surprised this film has not garnered more praise than it has.

A unique movie that uses real silent film footage to tell a fascinating, fictional morality tale. I can't think of another movie like it. Scenes from turn-of-the-century films of polar expeditions are spliced together to illustrate the story of an ill-fated voyage to Antarctica. The story is narrated by an old man who claims to be the only survivor of the expedition (played by an actor whose narration was filmed in black and white and intercut into the silent film footage). Well worth seeing.

To someone who might stumble upon this film on IFC or Sundance by accident ,it will seem to be an authentic documentary on a real Antartic mission in the early parts of the 20th Century. This is perhaps the finest "mocumentary" ever made! Using old newsreel footage of various Artic and Antartic missions,and photographs from the Shackelton expedition,and very cleverly photographed new material,the film's makers have woven a fascinating tale that never happened . The idea of a tunnel connecting the two Poles is of course ludicrous,but it makes for a great film!

The trouble with "found footage" is that it is in a sense just "stolen" footage. As some critics pointed out at the time he "honest" part of this film is so-called "archive" footage. Delpeut's frame story is neither believable not very interesting. The film is very properly dedicated to Frank Hurley but is not entirely honest in crediting his remarkable 1919 film of the Shackleton expedition to Antarctica, South which is what most of the "archive" footage actually is. The Hurley film is a very remarkable documentary and the story of the Shackleton expedition is itself far more absorbing and in some ways far more disturbing than this Delpeut fantasy.

In sum, the 1919 film remains by far the better of the two and it is difficult to see any reason why a viewer would not be better advised to watch that than this 1993 effort.

That said, one has to pay tribute to Delpeut's work of homage to he films of the silent era but I personally find both Lyrisch nitraat 1991 and Diva dolorosa 1999 to be more honest and rewarding examples. It is perhaps a little sad for Delpeut to say so but the more tone has of the silent films and the less one has of Delpeut himself, the better the result.