The Great White Silence

The Great White Silence is a very interesting silent documentary about an expedition to the Antarctic back in the early 1910s, and the age of the footage and the documentary itself makes it all weirdly eerie and a bit sad. Maybe part of the sadness came from listening to Sigur Ros while watching this - I was trying to think of wintery music without lyrics, or with minimal vocals, and that band came to mind first. Their 2002 album simply known as "( )" paired well with the visuals on offer.

It's a pretty straightforward historical document, with many title cards being used throughout for context, and little by way of story. It almost didn't need any narrative - much of the documentary is just spent on wildlife and simply how human beings are to live in freezing cold conditions, and so eventually, I forgot about the whole expedition thing, until the film seemed to remember that was the point all of a sudden and then got back to covering it.

Some might find it all a bit boring, but I think for its time, this was pretty amazing, and for capturing so much footage on Antarctica from this long ago, I'd say The Great White Silence certainly has merit. It's a shame it falls into the Dambusters and H. P. Lovecraft camp of giving a pet a very racist name (that whole segment was more than a bit awkward), and I feel like they're also kind of mean to the animals (scaring a mother away from her newly-hatched chicks every hour to document their process of growing, and a "game" played with young penguins really just involves chasing/frightening them all over the place), but that's the 1910s for you, I guess. Speaking of the 1910s, it's crazy to think all this footage was shot before the Titanic disaster, and the director filmed plenty of icebergs.

Anyway, documentary fans should check this out. I feel like it's a classic/definitive title within the canon of documentary cinema.

"The Great White South" can be an entertaining account of the Terra Nova Expedition, from Lyttelton, NZ to Antarctica. Watch with a mind's eye that can help you step backward in time, to the thinking of 1910.

When watching how the story is pieced together, at first I was a little bothered by the light slap-stick splashed between the scenes that were shown. One bit of information about a certain cat was truly void of political-correctness, which made me bristle. But after a few viewings of the movie I came to actually appreciate the humor, partly by understanding the reason for its use. The cinematography and story-telling shared by Herbert Ponting was based on turn-of-the-19th-century knowledge and thinking - a far cry from where society is today. Keeping this in mind helps one enjoy this piece of cinematic achievement more.

I was fooled upon first glance that Mr. Ponting might have joined the actual South Pole expedition as they actually set out in November, 1911, to undertake the quest for the frozen goal. There were still images taken at the Pole, not by Mr. Ponting, but by Lt. Henry Bowers, one of the four men selected.

The quips actually became comic relief as the story turns quite chilly, with some plot revelations as the four explorers trudge hundreds of miles, over a two-month period. Allow yourself to step out of your own comfortable shoes and into those of these comrades, and you'll appreciate the story much better. It's a slice of significant world history, in which Mr. Ponting was able to capture, during the journey.

It's amazing to learn the back stories of the major characters and how events converged with the trek for the South Pole, and why it also took more than a decade for this film to be completed. Cast out what would be today's poor choice of mingling with wildlife (and otherwise meddling with it) and revel in some enjoyable photography, story-telling and cinematography of its time.

One footnote: I watched the BFI-restored film, complete with restored colorizing and tinting (first done by Mr. Ponting himself). Oranges, blues, and odd shades of red seem meant to add a sense of time of day in some scenes, or the color of sea water. It didn't disturb me to see this when realizing that the color was as the filmmaker intended. The soundtrack by Simon Fisher Turner (Soleilmoon Recordings - 2011) was a welcome and haunting treat, which rejected the customary organ music one expects with silent films while adding depth to the visuals.

Though devoid of innate sound or narration, one can almost hear the exaggerated "old timey" radio voice that might read the intertitles during a theatrical presentation of the film, a feeling amplified by some of the language used therein. Strictly speaking the very earliest motion pictures consisted of many short non-fiction pieces as the medium began to develop, it's safe to say that 'The great white silence' is surely among the earliest examples of a long-form feature constructed with such sensibilities resembling what modern viewers would recognize as a documentary. Indeed, this film occupies a rather singular place in cinema history, and not just because filmmaker Herbert Ponting is remarked as having been the first to take such equipment to Antarctica. The restoration and especially the colorization give a sense that the feature is more recent in origin than the 1910s (when it was filmed) or the 1920s (when it was released). The interspersing of intertitles with brief clips of footage almost evokes a work of fiction, an adventure flick perhaps not unlike those of G. W. Pabst or Arnold Fanck. And still, the occasional insertion of still photographs and rudimentary animations (e.g. Tracing a path on a map), and the substantial portion devoted to fauna, concretely emphasizes the nature of the movie. With all this said, one thing is unmistakably true: though 'The great white silence' belongs squarely to the silent era, it nonetheless bears terrific value and is deeply engrossing on its own merits.

Ponting's daring for venturing thusly to the southernmost continent cannot be understated, and some of the methods he used to capture video were rather inventive so early after the advent of cinema. To that point, he illustrates a fine eye for shot composition, and some of the footage is quite brilliant, such as when he shows us how the Terra Nova burst through ice floes. This is to say nothing of the gorgeous if desolate scenery of which we're given awe-inspiring eyefuls, fantastic looks at diverse wildlife and the animals that also set sail on the ship, and documentation of the hard work of the expeditionary crew around him. And here I must emphasize again: Ponting was the first filmmaker to take moving pictures at these furthest reaches of the globe. Excepting drawings and early still photographs, the visions to greet us were like nothing else before them. That alone makes this an essential viewing experience.

As the ultimate fate of Robert F. Scott's expedition is well known in history, 'The great white silence' becomes even more important as extant testimony to what they experienced. However, Ponting's feature isn't exclusively a record of disaster, but a joyful remembrance of how the crew lived, and what they saw (only turning more direct and somber toward the end). The intertitles and sequencing are generally characterized by light humor no matter what is being spotlighted at any given moment, and on that note, what we really have is a portrait of Antarctica so the "folks at home" could get a good idea of not just the British explorers' time on the ice, but also of how the continent truly looks and feels. One might reasonably say that the movie kind of comes across as a full-length equivalent of a one- or two-reel educational short, or at times a precursor to the nature films of National Geographic, as much as a slice of history.

As with any old movie, there are parts of this that haven't aged well as a reflection of antiquated attitudes or values. Please note, for example, the shocking name given to one of the expedition's companion animals; the "game" the men play with some of the diminutive wildlife doesn't look so innocent now as it presumably had more than 100 years ago. It's also fair to argue that the picture is imbalanced, seemingly spending more time photographing penguins and seals than the expedition. Still, one must take at face value what we are given; after all, everything about 'The great white silence' very emphatically speaks to a bygone era, and the relative simplicity of its technology and techniques - what Scott and his crew were working with, and what Ponting was working with or pioneered. When all is said and done this won't appeal to all comers, least of all those who don't generally care for silent films. Yet there's much to enjoy here, and whether one is a student of history, a cinephile, a lover of nature and animals, or just especially curious about the Terra Nova expedition, 'The great white silence' remains a worthy, engaging, well-made documentary, standing surprisingly tall decades later and still deserving of recognition.

The Great White Silence (1924) : Brief Review -

In one word, THRILLING! One of the greatest Storytelling I've ever seen for a documentary and One of those Documentaries you Must Watch before you die. When i saw Robert Flaherty's 'Nanook Of The North' (1922), i thought i am done watching great documentaries of old time. I had already heard about 'The Great White Silence' even then but i kept skipping it for some reasons and Today when i am done watching it, I feel ashamed of myself. Nanook Of The North wasn't the end, here is great next chapter in the documentaries world. So, it contains brief cinematograph sequences taken during the Terra Nova Expedition of 1910-1913. The principal filmmaker was photographer Herbert Ponting. The Terra Nova Expedition was an effort, by governments and concerned citizens of what was then the British Empire, to plant the Union Jack on the South Pole by means of men, ponies, dogs, and primitive snowmobiles hauling sledges from a base located on the Antarctic coastline. The documentary portrays expedition leader Robert Falcon Scott and his ship, the Terra Nova, and men as they leave Lyttelton, New Zealand, to sail into the Southern Ocean and its ice floes. This restored version (2011) was in so good quality and the background score was so thrilling that it looked better than many thriller genre classics of 40s and 50s decades. I was hooked to it, i didn't move for a second and i was so immersed into it that i forget i am watching a documentary that released 97 years ago. What a beautiful storytelling it was. The intertitles are so well written and has that narrative values to make a Normal footage as interesting as any feature film. This is a Must See stuff, no matter how old it is and what some duffers have to say in review. You better experience it yourself than making a choice after somebody's review (including mine).

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest.

British documentary detailing the ill-fated Antarctic exploration journey of Capt. Robert Scott, circa 1910. Filmmaker Herbert Ponting journeyed with the icebreaker ship from New Zealand south to Antarctica. He filmed the men aboard ship and the attendant hardships, as well as the ship in action tearing through the ice. Once on land, Ponting films the men as they prepare to head for the South Pole, as well as footage of the local fauna, such as seals and penguins. Ponting did not journey with Scott and his party for the Polar attempt, which is good considering how things turned out.

The footage is amazing, especially when one considers the technology of the time, and Ponting's editing and titlecard writing help form a true narrative arc. This is one of the 1001 Movies to See Before You Die. Recommended.