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At the outset of his extraordinary, Oscar-nominated documentary about the life and landscape around the Antarctic community of McMurdo Station, director Werner Herzog announces that this is not a film about fluffy penguins. Sure enough, Encounters . . . is no soppy zoological adventure. But neither is it a serious study of flora and fauna in the style of David Attenborough. Instead, it is an idiosyncratic take on an already pretty out- there subject, the kind of bonkers endeavour with which Herzog has defined his wonderfully weird career.
Gobsmacked by a friend‘s series of photographs taken beneath the frozen Ross Sea, the intrepid Herzog hitched a ride with a planeload of some of the 1100 inhabitants of McMurdo Station, home to the National Science Foundation. There, he interviewed scientists, technicians, plumbers and truck drivers and ventured into the awe-inspiring continent to see what brought these people to such an inhospitable place.
The results are astonishing, illuminating, hilarious and sobering. Far from being a paradise away from the rest of the planet, McMurdo looks like a rundown mining camp. On the other hand, a trip beneath frozen sea unearths an alien environment straight out of a science fiction film.
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Climbing up to the rim of an active volcano, Herzog is instructed by a l\ " , ... l‘. .. ' ~ . 'rw ' ””8 '” a ”"’“”“"'i"”‘~l volcanologist not to turn and run if it erupts but to face the exploding m .r i- .. ; .. " -- rt .. : ”(E'IRN'j'l‘HC‘f '” the m" ”"f" "' magma and dodge the red-hot globs. Back at base, a biologist tells the Mr r: .. ~ : =-r~' r r' : ‘. F‘W‘ ({rWVVE; ”0”” m'" f’l'm‘" director mankind is headed for extinction. What unites this motley crew is i _ w r» .. 7' l " . “‘0 QUIVU‘I’lm“ ”‘1‘” WW“ " their passion for the place they‘ve found themselves drawn to and the hard i-‘w : ‘1' : ~ -r r .r t : luton ("“9 dealer WM” 'f‘ mm” reality check it's given them. , x: .1 i r , : , ,1 :, lrlw' set up for a tall It s a remarkable
Ultimately, the initially sceptical and scoffing Herzog is won over, which 055“” 0“ ”l‘l‘i’wm‘“ “W‘ml provides this otherwise dazzling film with emotional clout. He even finds . .. ,.,. ,. , "f?”"ll'S‘LWll 0‘ HWVW Kttllfll S “H” time to film a penguin. Though this being a Herzog film, it’s a clinically »'\'17‘ r ... r : ut .. ' : fir ”‘ Mean SM'WS' H“ W'” ””0” be insane one. (Miles Fielder) ..' , .. g, , - 1, 800” Dbl/”‘9 U DINO (lUIIVOf‘i’ “W I ,.- ' , . ; ,r y . _. .. __; In,” , ., ., ,1“ 1,, , .. , turned fashion model inSally
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‘ THE LIST 47