Encounters at the End of the World (2007)

Truly Dreadful Film

A Masterpiece!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

This movie is not your typical type of environmentalist documentaries focused around the earth's beauty and or the circle of life. Indeed, filmmaker Werner Herzog makes it a point to state his disinterest in making "another film about penguins". The key word in the title is not the 'End' of the world, but the 'encounters' at the end of it. Herzog documents his journey to Antarctica where he delves into the lives of the inhabitants on the continent. The focuses of the film are the eccentric characters present amidst the harsh climactic conditions, their stories, and the passion that drives them through their oddly surreal lifestyle. However this is not to say that the documentary does not document the environment and nature in Antarctica. In fact, contrary to Herzog's statement, the filmmaker does question an expert about penguins and their antics. The film is a hypnotic and serenely beautiful take on what life is like down in Antarctica and achingly calls out to the humanity and spirituality of the viewer.

Werner Herzog's 2008 documentary finds him in Antarctica where he meets the people who call the frozen continent their home. Herzog announces at the start that this will not be another film about fluffy penguins but will explore the dreams of the people working in this landscape. The entire film crew consisted of Herzog and Cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger who spent seven weeks on the continent, interviewing the people who live and work there.Shortly after arriving, Herzog is in full on grumpy mode as he is stuck in the largest settlement on the continent, McMurdo Island. He is shocked to discover that it looks like a dirty construction site, is criss-crossed by JCB diggers and has a bowling alley and an ATM. Herzog makes it clear that he wants to escape the confines of the settlement as soon as possible.Herzog meets many different people in his seven weeks on the continent. Some people, like a geologist Herzog meets sound like poets when describing Ice Burgs the size of countries while others are particularly annoying. A survival instructor being the most irritable person Herzog encounters. We meet an array of weird and wonderful characters from an ex banker turned bus driver to a woman with a beard and another woman who travelled through South America in a sewer pipe on the back of a lorry. Their stories and experiences are rife with philosophy and wonder.Herzog's ability to put into words what he sees is unrivaled and he sounds like a poet when he speaks. His accent along with the way he conveys himself are a joy to listen to. Herzog takes us into the mind of the people he meets and tries to understand why they are here, what bought them here and how they have adapted to their environment. Herzog also tires to get inside the mind of a suicidal penguin in a very funny but odd moving encounter.Towards the end of the film, Herzog focuses on the future of Antarctica and the future of us as a species; hypothesizing that when we are gone a race of alien archeologists will study our ruined cities and try to understand why we were in the Antarctic. While there they will uncover the only completely intact human settlement, preserved in the ice. It is a unique and vivid Herzogian vision.As with all Herzog documentaries, I felt that watching it on Blu-Ray on a large TV was sufficient. Herzog captures great beauty in Antarctica but is also unafraid of filming the uglier sides. To me, his documentary makes Antarctica feel a bit like Prague. It is incredibly beautiful but kind of spoiled by Americans. This is a charming documentary which goes further than the traditional wildlife documentaries you will have seen before and is a joy to watch.www.attheback.blogspot.com

I rarely give an 8 to a film. This one deserves it. Herzog has managed to make an intelligent--yes that is the right word survey of the human endeavor in Antarctica.It is foremost a movie about people most of them are interesting especially the low key ones like the philosopher. There are however plenty of ego flaunting obnoxious ones like the woman "who traveled across Africa in a garbage truck". Unfortunately places like Antarctica attract and bring out that crowd of people--ones seeking some kind of identity through the "zaniness" of their experiences including of course being in Antarctica.Herzog subtly cuts them off at the knees when deserved such as saying we were glad to get out of McMurdo after an interview with someone claiming how important an ice cream machine was.Watch it you will like it.

Werner Herzog is unique in his ability to make both fiction and non-fiction films that are equally fascinating, original and beautiful. With Encounters at the End of the World he takes us to the most unforgivingly remote place on the planet: Antarctica. But Herzog does not make normal documentaries, so do not expect this to be a typical natural world film. Instead we have a film that is as interested in the people who have chosen to live in this place, as much as the beauties of its natural landscape. In keeping with the director's previous preoccupations this is another look at outsiders and dreamers. The people who live here have chosen to do so for a variety of reasons but what seems to tie them all together is a certain individuality; one that Herzog can identify with.The imagery captured is often poetic in its beauty. We see underwater sequences of life below the ice, a large volcano in the middle of the continent and a penguin wandering insanely in the direction of the distant mountains to its doom, like a crazed hero in a Herzog movie such as Aguirre. There are many small moments of the bizarre that stay long with you such as the stories about microscopic sea-monsters and icebergs the size of Ireland. He captures other unexpected surreal moments such as the tunnel where things are preserved; the fish encased deep in the ice, preserved forever. And only an eccentric such as Herzog would ever ask a penguin expert if there were instances of the birds going insane or practising homosexuality.The film is divided in its view of man's existence in Antarctica and exploration in general. Herzog clearly disliked the ugly settlement of McMurdo and is saddened that Antarctica could not have been left alone. Yet a romantic spirit as adventurous as Herzog is equally fascinated by it and is of course compelled to explore its mysteries. It's another very personal documentary from one of the most consistently interesting film-makers around.