Encounters at the End of the World (2007)

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writer:

Werner Herzog (written by)

Release Date:

17 October 2008 (Spain)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Filmmaker Werner Herzog travels to Antarctica to capture its landscape's rarely seen beauty on film.

Plot Keywords:

Penguin | Antarctica | Mountain | Hand | Bucket

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 nominations

Cast

David Ainley	...	Marine Ecologist
Samuel S. Bowser	...	Cell Biologist
Regina Eisert	...	Physiologist
Kevin Emery	...	McMurdo Station Survival School Instructor
Ryan Andrew Evans	...	McMurdo Station Cook
Ashrita Furman	...	Multiple World Record Holder
Peter Gorham	...	Physicist - University of Hawaii
Werner Herzog	...	Narrator
William Jirsa	...	McMurdo Station Linguist - Computer Expert
Karen Joyce	...	Computer Expert
Doug MacAyeal	...	McMurdo Station Glaciologist (as Douglas MacAyeal)
William McIntosh	...	Volcanologist - Geochronologist
Olav T. Oftedal	...	Nutritional Ecologist
Clive Oppenheimer	...	Volcanologist
David R. Pacheco Jr.	...	McMurdo Journeyman Plumber
Stefan Pashov	...	McMurdo Station Forklift Driver
Jan Pawlowski	...	Zoologist
Scott Rowland	...	McMurdo Station Transportation Dept
Libor Zicha	...	McMurdo Station Utility Mechanic

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:G | Canada:G (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario/Québec) | Netherlands:6 | Singapore:G | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Antarctica

Company:

Discovery Films

Quotes:

Narrator: The National Science Foundation invited me even though I made it clear I would not be making another movie about penguins.

Movie Connections:

Features Them! (1954)

Soundtrack:

Planino Stara Planino Mari

A truly beautiful look at Antarctica and the fascinating people who work there

I had a chance to see Werner Herzog's latest documentary at the Telluride Film Festival, where it received great buzz and very high praise upon its debut. Herzog informed the audience that he was shown some footage taken by a photographer in Antarctica while doing post-production on Grizzly Man and he was immediately entranced by what he saw. From this he was compelled to visit the continent and shoot some footage of his own, which became Encounters at the End of the World.

The film perfectly balances both gorgeous footage of the continent as well as fascinating interviews and anecdotes of the many researchers and workers of the McMurdo research station. There are many humorous moments, such as a scene in which visitors must go through a follow-the-leader type exercise before being allowed to venture out into the wild. Participants in the exercise must wear buckets adorned with ridiculous caricatures over their heads in order to simulate a whiteout. They must then try to follow each other as a group and find a researcher a distance away. Herzog simply observes as the participants fail over and over to find the researcher, which left the audience laughing for minutes on end. Another excellent scene has Herzog interviewing an expert on penguins, who goes into some of their more bizarre behavior, such when penguins go insane. In both cases, Herzog features striking footage and amusing interviews and narration.

The film fits in well with Herzog's already substantial canon. It is a beautiful look at a beautiful continent populated by a forklift driver with a PhD, a woman who once traveled to South America in a sewage pipe on the back of a truck, researchers who play electric guitars on top of research station to celebrate discovering three new species of aquatic life in one day, and many more. Their stories converge where all the lines on the map meet at the end of the world. Herzog shot the film with a crew of just himself and the camera operator, and the result is a film with some of the most beautiful footage I've ever seen. Do not miss this when it receives general release!