Class Viewing 2: Encounters at the End of the World

The second week's viewing was a film entitled: Encounters at the End of the World directed by Werner Herzog.

I had heard of Herzog before now and was aware of his success in the documentary field but had yet to watch any of them. He is strange for his involvement in both documentaries and fiction fields, directing Bad Lieutenant: Port Call of New Orleans and playing the 'baddie' in Jack Reacher. A unique filmmaker.

Encounters involved Herzog and a small film crew going to the South Pole in Antarctica to observe the life of the people who work there. The film is so mesmerizing because of the way Herzog tells the story.

We learn soon on of the truck driver which is essentially a bus that collects them and several others when the plane lands. Firstly, this bus isn't a normal size. It is a giant behemoth with wheels bigger than houses. Herzog asks him what he did before coming here, expecting a truck driver or a cab driver, but the man reveals he worked in a bank in Colorado. This was shocking. 

The man tells us that he moved to Guatemala and got involved in the civil rights movement and was captured by these gang members who were going to kill him with a machete, but thankfully he escaped. He closes by telling us that there was another woman captured who didn't make it and was killed. It was a very emotional and sad moment that laid the groundwork for the film.

It was very interesting to find out about the different people who live here, like the divers who must blow a massive hole in the ground then dive in sub zero temps. They don't use a tether line either and must find their way back to the small exit hole. They search for sea creatures and anything else they can find, sometimes finding new species' of creatures. According to them it's a 'very big deal' but remain calm and unnaffected because it must happen pretty regularly.

Herzog is a very effective documentarian and it may be his experience of both this genre and fiction that enables him to be so good at it. He blurs the line between fiction and reality and we almost don't know what we're watching and we get lost in it. I think it makes for really effective storytelling. He has clearly staged certain things for the camera and has paid off miraculously.

I feel it would be a cardinal sin to skip talking about the visuals in this film. The cinematography is incredible, the cavern walls look like they can tell so many stories and the underwater photography is also breathtaking.