So, those who know me know I love the films of Werner Herzog (crazy German bastard he is). Couple of weeks back I bought his latest doc "Encounters At The End of The World" on DVD. It's a film about the Antarctic and the dreamers who live there. I've been saving it for the right moment to watch it. As I've learned, Herzog's films are something to be savoured and contemplated. You don't just throw one on for kicks. It must be placed in the DVD player delicately and meditated upon like a fine wine or Japanese Zen koan.
So, I watched it tonight. The moment seemed right but for no tangible reason other than I was ready.
In one word: extraordinary. In many words: breathtaking, mindblowing, an alternate reality. Its hard to sum up. The people living there include a scientist more comfortable living with the penguins he studies than other humans, a philosopher who drives heavy machinery, a linguist on a continent with no human language, a machinist who is a descendent from Incan royalty. I watched a deranged penguin walk away from his colony, away from the ocean, inward to the center of the continent, 5000 miles on the path to certain death. I saw undesea creatures that are alien to our experience. Scientists laying down and placing their ear to the ice to listen to it move and the call of the seals transmitted through it. There were volcanic vents through the ice that created cathedrals of frozen water.
Rent or buy this movie. Buy a great bottle of wine or roll a nice joint. Dim the lights. And watch this movie. I am in awe ... thank you, Werner. I still believe in the magic of film.
p.s.-and he dedicated it to Roger Ebert the film critic and one of his biggest fans...(the scientists listening at the ice segment was definitely for him)
And Then There Were Two
4 hours ago
