Educational Media Reviews Online

With a title that evokes Werner Herzog’s Antarctica documentary Encounters at the End of the World, Daniel Dencik’s film visits the other side of the globe for a two-week voyage into uncharted fjords that global warming has made newly accessible. The characters we meet are only identified by name in the end credits; instead, the director has chosen to call them by their specialty (e.g. the artist, the zoologist, the marine biologist, etc.) The role identification that opens the movie lends an air of fiction to all that follows, making one think of found footage horror films or—as the crew are all jokers—perhaps a mockumentary.

Unfortunately, the disjointed nature of the voyage and a lack of narrative focus leave the viewer unsatisfied. Some of the events of the trip that seem most interesting—such as an unexpected meeting with offshore oil prospectors—are barely explored, whereas one does get a good sense of the tedium involved in scientific research. I did learn something I had not really considered: killing animals is a part of a zoologist’s job description. Most of the crew enjoys sport hunting, so there is also a lot of gun-toting action in the movie.

In terms of the film’s environmental message, while it does not stoop to outright climate change denial, the crew tends to believe that the human roots of environmental change are justified by our supposed dominance as a species. Barring that, at least the planet (or life) will survive if humans die out. Given the film’s use of comedy, one sometimes cannot determine if the speaker really holds the bleak views espoused or is employing irony. I would not expect much curricular use of the film in either science or environmental studies classes. (The climate scientist is not a character on the expedition.) Even so, lovers of adventure and gorgeous arctic scenery should give this film a chance.

Awards

• Environmental Award, Reykjavik International Film Festival