Werner Herzog traveled to Antarctica to make this documentary. I was hoping for insights and information, but I got little of either. Much of the movie is filmed at the U.S. Antarctic Research Center (USARC) at McMurdo Station. I know that Herzog has a penchant for finding unusual people, and there appear to be many such at USARC. The biggest disappointment for me is that the movie concentrates on brief interviews with some of the people at the research center, concentrating on their personal eccentricities while giving us almost no sense of the nature and value of their research. Herzog would have us believe that the people at USARC are driven to be there by their being outcasts rather than a passion for science. USARC is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, which also participated in the funding of this movie. I think Herzog does a disservice to that organization by approaching the research at USARC with little more than bemusement.
The Neutrino Observatory, with shafts sunk into the ice to depths of nearly two miles, is mentioned as if it were some sort of amusing sideshow. There could be a whole documentary on that one experiment, but I would have hoped at least to get some mention here of its scope and its goals and why it is valuable. Herzog takes a bit more time with an experiment to analyze seal milk. Shown is the tranquilizing of a seal and extraction of the milk. But why this is important is left hanging. Is the milk from Antarctic seals different from tropical seals? If so, what would be the importance of that? There was an interview with a linguist who was doing some work with plants, but there was no discussion on what he was doing with his plants. Herzog intrudes on a penguin specialist who clearly considered the interview to be a nuisance. And what questions does Herzog ask: "Have you witnessed any gay penguins?" and "Are there any psychotic penguins?" I could imagine the guy being interviewed saying to himself, "Just get out of here." Herzog gives no indication that he is interested in the science done at USARC.
There are some beautiful scenes of the landscapes. The scenes filmed underwater are transfixing and could easily be used in a science fiction movie taking place on another planet. We see a lot of unusual life forms in the water below the ice, but get little indication of what they are and how they make a go of it down there. And what is to be learned from this?
Toward the end, Herzog makes comments about how human life on earth is not sustainable and will be of limited duration. I do not see how he reached that conclusion based on what he documents in this movie. Is this just a personal opinion interjected into the disconnected fabric of this movie?
I took away little inspiration from having watched this.
The Neutrino Observatory, with shafts sunk into the ice to depths of nearly two miles, is mentioned as if it were some sort of amusing sideshow. There could be a whole documentary on that one experiment, but I would have hoped at least to get some mention here of its scope and its goals and why it is valuable. Herzog takes a bit more time with an experiment to analyze seal milk. Shown is the tranquilizing of a seal and extraction of the milk. But why this is important is left hanging. Is the milk from Antarctic seals different from tropical seals? If so, what would be the importance of that? There was an interview with a linguist who was doing some work with plants, but there was no discussion on what he was doing with his plants. Herzog intrudes on a penguin specialist who clearly considered the interview to be a nuisance. And what questions does Herzog ask: "Have you witnessed any gay penguins?" and "Are there any psychotic penguins?" I could imagine the guy being interviewed saying to himself, "Just get out of here." Herzog gives no indication that he is interested in the science done at USARC.
There are some beautiful scenes of the landscapes. The scenes filmed underwater are transfixing and could easily be used in a science fiction movie taking place on another planet. We see a lot of unusual life forms in the water below the ice, but get little indication of what they are and how they make a go of it down there. And what is to be learned from this?
Toward the end, Herzog makes comments about how human life on earth is not sustainable and will be of limited duration. I do not see how he reached that conclusion based on what he documents in this movie. Is this just a personal opinion interjected into the disconnected fabric of this movie?
I took away little inspiration from having watched this.