Rencontres au bout du monde

This is an odd documentary. On one hand, I found much of the film to be rather confusing and pointless, the overall effect is still very engaging--mostly because you see things in this film you'll never see anywhere else! The famed German director Werner Herzog travels to Antarctica with a film crew. Considering Herzog's reputation, traveling there isn't much of a surprise. After all, he's the same crazed guy who took crews into the most inhospitable portions of South America to film "Fitzcarraldo" and "Aguirre: The Wrath of God". What follows is quite strange, as he goes to the most fascinating and terrific places--but also fills the movie with tons of interviews which are bizarre. Often, these folks living at the various research projects there wax very lyrical--and the film is quite philosophical but also just plain strange. It sounded, at times, like the folks living around McMurdo Station had lost their mind or were well on their way! Often, these folks talk and talk...yet appear to be saying nothing.

But, the film STILL is mesmerizing. You learn about the very unearthly sort of sounds the seals make under the ice, the sad story of a mixed-up penguin, some amazing volcano research and lots of odd facts about this MOSTLY desolate continent. Well worth seeing--just don't be too turned off by the occasionally bizarre dialog.