Dir. Werner Herzog
(G) ★ ★ ★ ½

“I fell in love with the world,” says one of the subjects of director Werner Herzog’s documentary Encounters at the End of the World. To Herzog this statement encapsulates the theme that has run through each of his films, and indeed there is a palpable sense of wonder for the world coursing through Encounters, in which the filmmaker visits Antarctica to discover its mysteries. But to call it a nature film would be a vulgarization to Herzog, who scoffs at the March of the Penguins model of documentary film. He is interested in an altogether different kind of nature — not biology and geography, but rather philosophy, sociology, and spirituality.

Continue reading →