Encounters at the End of the World (2008) -vs- March of the Penguins (2005)
"Encounters at the End of the World" DVD Release - November 18
The Smackdown. In the last few years, the documentary world has given us a couple of projects about living in Antarctica that play out against a backdrop of global warming.
"Encounters at the End of the World" and "March of the Penguins" want to be seen as important because they're being offered to us at a time when the ice caps are shrinking into less-and-less of their former selves.
At the same time, though, the filmmakers want to distract us from the education by making us feel entertained with either quirky characters or Morgan Freeman voice-over. Americans have the biggest base down there at the South Pole -- McMurdo -- but, apparently, that's where the commitment stops: both of these films were done, originally, by Europeans. So, here we go: penguins versus humans, in a frozen world that's so damn cold your spit can freeze before it even hits the ground.
The Challenger. Director and writer Warner Herzog also narrates his film about life in Antarctica and, I have to say, listening to his accented voice-over reminds me that it was the Germans who called Antaractica "Neuschwabenland" before World War II and were reputed (in UFO circles anyway) to have repaired there after the end to build flying saucers at secret bases tunneled under the ice. Okay, you've been warned. If Herzog has another agenda, you heard it here first...
The film he's made is great example of the idea that you can go to the literal ends of the Earth to get away from it all, and still be where you started. People are still people, and they need to connect as much as ever. I probably know as much about life in the US Antarctica base at McMurdo as any living human can without actually having lived there. A few years ago, I wrote a TV series pilot for DreamWorks TV called, yes, "McMurdo" and read books, websites and talked to all manner of iceheads.
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