New on DVD Nov 16 2008 @ 08:30 am
REVIEW: Encounters at the End of the World
Directed By: Werner Herzog
Written By: Werner Herzog
Starring: Werner Herzog
Running Time: 99 minutes
Rated G
This review was originally published on September 6, 2008.
Werner Herzog doesn’t make “normal” movies, and while that is a gross generalization, it’s also completely true in his case. The German auteur’s filmmography reads like an issue of Bizarre magazine (yes, it exists): violently manic actors, set pieces that almost killed large swaths of crewmembers, short films where he boils and eats his own footwear, and Bruno S., a mentally unbalanced street musician that Herzog discovered and cast as the lead in two of his films. In The Grand, Herzog starred as “The German,” a poker player who needed to kill at least one fuzzy animal per day. You have to wonder if his performance was based on personal experience.
With all of that in mind, you know that Encounters at the End of the World, Herzog’s latest documentary about the Great White Continent and the odd souls who populate it, is not going to be about cuddly penguins bobbing around in the snow. Herzog says as much himself in the opening narration; when the National Science Foundation offered to send him to Antarctica, he made it clear he wasn’t interested in the breeding patterns of flightless birds. Instead, he wanted to answer questions like, “Why couldn’t a monkey ride a goat into the sunset?” His query is punctuated by, what else, a painting of a monkey in a cowboy hat riding a goat into the sunset. Seriously.
Herzog has always been obsessed with obsession, both his own and others. His films are meditations on ridiculous dreams that only make sense to the dreamer, but inevitably art begets life and Herzog and his films end up becoming as manic as their subjects. In Fitzcarraldo, a man dreams of hauling a steamboat over a mountain so he can monopolize an unreachable section of the Amazon river. During filming, Herzog actually hauled a 320 ton steamship over a mountain without the aid of special effects. It’s difficult to tell if Fitzcarraldo is a surrogate for Herzog’s obsession or if it’s the other way around. Encounters likewise blurs the line between documentarian and documented; it’s as much about the introverted penguin expert as it is about the man who is asking him if homosexual penguins exist
Haunting underwater imagery that recalls a science fiction film.
Herzog, along with a lone cameraman, spent 7 weeks at McMurdo, a 1000 person strong outpost that looks like “an ugly mining town” and features “abominations such as an aerobics studio and yoga classes.” He provides off-the-cuff interviews with welders, linguists, horticulturalists, meteorologists, divers, and volcanologists, each subject being probed with not-so-subtle questions designed to ascertain why they’ve chosen the end of nowhere as their home. Interspersed are expansive shots of the arctic plains and ephemeral moments under the ice with sci-fi-like sea creatures, juxtaposed sonically with Aussie didjeridos and haunting choral arrangements. But the landscapes, as beautiful as they are, are not the focus of Herzog’s obsession (any 5 minutes of Planet Earth will outshine the entirety of Encounters in that regard); he always returns to the lonely denizens who’ve eschewed civilization for hostile wilderness.
Throughout the film, Herzog continues to revisit Ernest Shackleton and his ill-fated Endurance expedition of 1914. The explorer and his crew nearly perished to the man in a bid to carry the British flag across the entire continent by way of the South Pole, and you can practically hear the admiration and jealousy in Herzog’s voice when he talks about it (as a side note, see The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition, a thrillingly hard-to-believe documentary on the subject). The German director obviously desired an experience more akin to Shackleton’s, and is audibly disappointed when he receives the equivalent of an extended stay at a muddy ski resort.
One last image remains in my mind’s eye. After asking the penguin expert whether or not penguins can go insane, Herzog’s camera catches a lone bird abandoning his companions and striking out towards the mountains some 700 miles away. The black and white blob waddles and slides towards what will be certain death, apparently possessed by an irresistible compulsion. It doesn’t matter that the endeavor is stupid or insane or suicidal or all three; the penguin must make it to those mountains.
Herzog can obviously sympathize.
Herzog perches on the edge of oblivion.
on Sep 06 2008 @ 12:57 pm 1. Andrew said …
I’m a little disappointed that some reviewers seem to regard Encounters as “minor Herzog”. It’s an understandable assessment when one compares this film to, say, Aguirre or Grizzly Man, but the label seems dismissive in some way. Perhaps I’m just overly sensitive because Encounters touched me so profoundly. I caught it when I was in Seattle on a business trip on one of the creaky upstairs screens at the Varsity. Even seen in that dismal little venue, I found this to be a commanding, astonishing film. With Morris’ Standard Operating Procedure, this is shaping up to be a good year for veteran documentary directors.
My full review:
http://gatewaycinephiles.com/2008/07/30/review-encounters-at-the-end-of-the-world/
on Sep 06 2008 @ 1:43 pm 2. Rick Olson said …
Evan, a fine review. Herzog is a true original, alternating as he does between loony pomposity — “Why couldn’t a monkey ride a goat into the sunset?” is a fine example — and breathtakingly soaring films. I think I’ll go watch “Aguirre,” now.
on Sep 06 2008 @ 2:42 pm 3. Nick Plowman said …
Can’t believe that I still have not seen this…
on Sep 06 2008 @ 3:30 pm 4. G said …
The deranged penguin pretty much destroyed my soul. This movie is fantastic. That German guy is crazy!
on Sep 06 2008 @ 8:57 pm 5. Phillip Johnston said …
As I read your review I kept asking myself, “How is he going to get through a review of this film without mentioning the lone penguin?!” But you did. And it made me happy. I haven’t been able to get that image out of my head since I saw the film in May — just one of the many points in the film where I was almost weeping.
I laughed a lot during this one, too. Herzog’s documentary style strikes such a good balance between humor and existential seriousness. He’s so completely genuine that none of it seems forced.
on Sep 07 2008 @ 6:50 am 6. G said …
Hey fellas: If you look at the last 8 films reviewed, at the top of your site, you’ve given 4 3.5s and 4 3s. I know this is partially does chance, as this is mediocrity time for movies. But have you considered using the rest of the ratings a little more?
on Sep 07 2008 @ 7:42 am 7. Luke Harrington said …
No way, dude. MovieZeal is a celebration of mediocrity. In fact, we’re thinking about changing the name of the site to All3’s.com.
on Sep 07 2008 @ 7:57 am 8. G said …
That would actually be a hilarious website. No Country For Old Men: 3. Street Kings: 3. Disaster Movie: 3.
We neither like nor dislike anything!
on Sep 07 2008 @ 9:08 am 9. Evan Derrick said …
Andrew, I’m assuming you’re just making a general statement and not indicating that I thought this was minor Herzog?
I would consider Rescue Dawn minor Herzog. It’s certainly the most commercial film he’s ever made, but it seems so far removed from the aesthetic and personality that he injects into all of his other pictures. If I wanted someone to become interested in Herzog, I wouldn’t recommend Rescue to them, because even though they would likely enjoy it, they would not get a very clear picture of who Herzog is as a filmmaker and what makes him so unique.
With that said, this film did not capture me like some of his others. I can appreciate, Andrew, how you and Phillip had strong reactions, but this just didn’t do it for me. I enjoyed it, but wasn’t overwhelmed/stunned/awestruck like I was after watching Fitzcarraldo or Grizzly Man. His eccentric take (”loony pomposity” as Rick so aptly put it) on the inhabitants of McMurdo was interesting, but it felt more like a quirky Discover Channel program than a full-blown Herzog film.
on Sep 07 2008 @ 10:14 am 10. Haiku Girl said …
I enjoy Herzog, and thought Fitzcarraldo was great, but I’d have to know who I was recommending Herzog too, before I chose a film. I liked both Fitzcarraldo, and Auguire: Wrath of God, but most people I know would think they were waaaay to long, and had not enough action.
Ecounters was great, I loved how Herzog would start an interview, and then voice over sarcastic comments if it wasn’t going well.
on Sep 07 2008 @ 11:49 am 11. G said …
I thought Rescue Dawn was near perfect, and completely fit in with a portrait of intense insanity like Fitzcarraldo or Aguirre. But maybe that’s just me.
on Sep 07 2008 @ 3:08 pm 12. Andrew Wyatt said …
Oh, to be clear, that wasn’t snark lobbed at you, Evan, and I’m sorry if sounded like an off-handed barb. I believe the term “minor Herzog” was from Nick Schager at Slant, although similar sentiments seem to be evident from Onion AV Club, the Voice, and Slate. And, honestly, I don’t really have a bone to pick with their assessments in and of themselves. I think one can make a solid argument that Encounters is objectively inferior to Aguirre or Grizzly Man. Despite all that, it seems like Encounters, which is sitting at 80 at Metacritic, has pretty much been universally praised.
I guess was just mulling over my own biases. Encounters touched me in a personal way, and therefore I feel a pang of defensiveness about it lately.
And I generally agree with your assessment of Rescue Dawn. It seemed the most oddly mercenary and straightforward of Herzog’s films that I have seen.
on Sep 07 2008 @ 5:06 pm 13. Evan Derrick said …
G, I could see flashes of Herzog in Rescue, but not many. For a director who’s films ostentatiously bear his fingerprints, Rescue held only fleeting glimpses of him. I’d be interested to hear why you thought it perfectly fit into his oeuvre.
Haiku Girl: but was Herzog really being sarcastic? I thought that was just him being him.
Andrew, no worries about feeling defensive. You had a great, impassioned writeup at your site. Herzog’s films always seem to engender the most subjective responses – they either hit you just right or feel wildly off the mark. Encounters felt more like that than many of his other films – I just wasn’t quite riding it’s wavelength, although it’s not difficult to see how others could.
on Sep 10 2008 @ 12:12 pm 14. Daniel said …
Sorry this one didn’t deliver as much as you might have hoped from my buzzing about it all summer. I guess at some point I got past Herzog’s involvement and just enjoyed meeting the odd people and places and animals down there. I do agree that he didn’t have much of an agenda that he was working from, but I think the uniqueness of the subjects overshadowed the lack of a narrative.
Will it end up on my Top 10 of ‘08 Docs list? Probably toward the end. Will I go out of my way to see it again soon? Probably not.
on Sep 15 2008 @ 11:21 am 15. Sam Juliano said …
“ENCOUNTERS blurs the live between documentarian and the documented.” Terrific point, and one I do agree with. Overall, this is a most perceptive review that brings Herzog into focus, again using some his career markers as a back drop (similarly to what you did with the Coens film). Kudos on some superlative descriptive writing here.
I must say however, that I rate it a bit higher (at least a four) and for me it is the third best documentary feature of the year behind a flat-footed first place tie (UP THE YANGTZE and MAN ON WIRE)
on Sep 15 2008 @ 11:39 am 16. Evan Derrick said …
Have you seen Bigger, Faster, Stronger, Sam? Luke gave it 5 stars, so I imagine it’s probably in the running for one of the best docs of the year (and it’s been a great year for docs).
On the rating, I wanted to rate it higher, but when it comes down to it, Encounters didn’t hit me in the emotional sweet spot. I enjoyed watching Herzog, as always, but it didn’t resonate with me as much as his other work has. You can kind of tell that from the review; I discuss the film in depth and how Herzog’s eccentricities make it a unique experience, but I’m not exactly handing out the praises left and right.
on Sep 15 2008 @ 12:45 pm 17. Sam Juliano said …
Fair enough Evan, that’s a good argument.
I have seen practically all the most important docs, this year, but regrettably I have not yet seen BIGGER, FASTER STRONGER yet. But I look forward to it, and am aware that Luke was crazy for it.
on Nov 20 2008 @ 10:23 pm 18. K. Bowen said …
I’ve been meaning to see this. I need to get to a video store. Yes, I am old school.
on Nov 21 2008 @ 9:22 am 19. Evan Derrick said …
No kidding, K. What, there’s like…. 2 other people in the world that go to video stores?
on Dec 29 2009 @ 9:47 am 20. CP Cheats said …
I don’t know why but your blog won’t let me comment on any of the older posts