Antarctica remains one of the few underexplored areas of our planet. Its startling beauty and mystery belie dangerous cold and other perils. Neither stops explorers from traveling there, nor do they stop documentary makers from going with them. Check out these five documentaries about the southern-most continent. Encounters at the End of the World Directed…
Tag: Werner Herzog
‘Grizzly Man’ and the Filmmaker-Subject Relationship
Grizzly Man (2005) is as much about the filmmaker-subject relationship as it is about the subject himself. The subject is Timothy Treadwell, a bear enthusiast who spent 13 summers living among them and recording more than 100 hours of video with them and himself. Treadwell and his then-girlfriend Amie Huguenard met their untimely deaths when…
Three Docs on Ice: Science, Spectacle, and Storytelling
Dena Seidel’s Antarctic Edge: 70 Degrees South recently became available on iTunes. Its topic and telling found me watching two other related documentaries: Chasing Ice and Encounters at the End of the World. All three address in part glaciers and climate change. What differs among them is their focuses on science, spectacle, and storytelling. Science…
‘We the Economy’ Answers Complex Questions in Short Episodes
The economy this. The economy that. So much news coverage talks about the economy, but for those who avoided that class in college, what does “the economy” mean? We the Economy, a new online documentary series, offers some engaging explanations. We the Economy consists of 20 short videos organized around a series of questions that…
‘Little Dieter Needs to Fly’ Recounts Harrowing War Experiences
Little Dieter Needs to Fly offers a recounting of Dieter Dengler’s harrowing experiences as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. Dengler was a German citizen who moved to the United States in order to pursue his dream of learning to fly. His inspiration came from the planes that flew over his village during…
A Look into the ‘Land of Silence and Darkness’
Land of Silence and Darkness begins as a portrait of Fini Straubinger, who had been deaf and blind since adolescence. After spending decades in bed, she began to experience life and to help others in the same situation. Central to her awakening was learning about finger spelling, which provides a means of communication for those…
‘Cave of Forgotten Dreams’ Seeks a Deeper Meaning
Like almost all of Werner Herzog’s documentaries, Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011) operates on two levels: in this case the important discovery of the cave and the attempts at finding greater meanings therein. The important discovery is the Chauvet caves found in France in 1994. These caves featured paintings on the wall that were dated…
Werner Herzog Produces Anti-Texting and Driving PSA
Unless you watched the opening credits, you would not recognize From One Second to the Next (2013) as a Werner Herzog film. This short is a public service announcement sponsored by the four major cell phone companies in the United States about the outcomes of texting and driving. This short features a series of interviews…
Herzog Delves ‘Into the Abyss’ of Capital Punishment
Into the Abyss (2011) is a look into the capital punishment system in Texas through the case of two teenagers who murdered three people for a car. Of the two teens, one entered a plea and received a lighter sentence, while the other received the death penalty. Into the Abyss is not a race-to-prevent-execution documentary,…
‘Ballad of the Little Soldier’ Tells Stories of the Child Soldiers
Ballad of the Little Soldier (1984) is a German-language documentary short about the situation facing the Miskito Indians in Nicaragua against the Sandinistas. Co-directed by Werner Herzog and journalist Denis Reichle, the documentary focuses primarily on the Miskito people’s stories. This short balances two parts, though neither is wholly separated from the other. Through interviews…