Jon Peters Reviews: “Encounters at the End of the World”

Werner Herzog is a strange beast, a director of passion and conflict, one who always makes something interesting. To me, he is a director, not just a title placed over his name. Whether it’s a short subject, a documentary, or a feature film, he directs because there’s something within the subject that brings something out in him. I’m no Herzog scholar, but in his newest documentary, his trademarks are here. He uses his soft voice as our guide into it’s an examination of the subject, his love for man and nature are obviously present, and the film has a long lasting effect on you after you’ve seen it. Although, this doesn’t have a potent effect on me like ‘Grizzly Man’ did.

I was constantly wondering in this film what was so interesting for Herzog to capture. He claimed this was an assignment for the National Geographic Society and he didn’t want to film penguins. He heads to Antarctica to visit McMurdo Research Station, the largest human population on the continent. He films the place, the people and the lifestyle there but he is dispassionate about them. He quickly loses interest in the people. After a few interviews he starts to edit out their lives, their stories, even their research; he scoffs at them almost mockingly. Sure the penguin researcher is odd and antisocial but his working is intriguing. Herzog doesn’t like him, it’s readily apparent. Fine, but it makes us the audience feel uneasy. If you don’t like this people then why film them?

Herzog’s passion is the wildlife and it shows. He lovingly films under the ice, showcasing incredible beauty. It’s the film’s highlight; exquisite filming of an undiscovered world. Vast ice landscapes, underwater palaces, and deep eye-opening volcanoes are so lavishly filmed; this might have been a segment of BBC/Discovery Channel’s ‘Planet Earth’ series. The most haunting scene is a lost penguin that is unknowingly headed to death as he walks away from where it is suppose to go. They were unable to interfere and save it, it’s a rule, but as an image it’s a cold reminder that nature works in mysterious ways as they do not know why it did that.

There’s a moment in which some researchers discover a new species. Herzog asks how important this is and they respond very. We don’t get anymore insight into it. Sadly, the film plays out much like a travelogue of a place no one will probably ever visit and as such, it’s beautiful and surreal. As a documentary there’s nothing to interesting going on. Perhaps this more of a job than a personal one for Herzog. He shows this wide angle shot of the McMurdo Research Society and bulldozers are sweeping across the snow. It looks horrible, as the bulldozer’s exhaust creates a lot of black in the snow and Herzog exclaims he hated it there and heads into the wild in the next shot. With ‘Encounters at the End of the World’ Herzog recognizes mankind’s fate: we are destined to destroy whatever we touch.