ANTARCTICA: A YEAR ON ICE
Music Box Films
Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes.
Grade: B
Director: Anthony Powell
Screenwriter: Anthony Powell
Cast: Genevieve Bachmann, Michael Christiansen, Tom Hamann, George Lampman, penguins, seals
Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 11/12/14
Opens: November 28, 2014
What would you think of people who, when coming back from abroad and asked for the first thing they want to do, list these preferences? One wants to walk on the grass in bare feet; another to visit the botanic garden; a third to have an avocado; and a fourth to take a long shower? If these people had been to Europe, you wouldn’t think their first choice upon arriving home would be to go to a garden or to a hot shower or to have an avocado. These are readily available on the Continent. But if you guessed that these folks came back from months in Antarctica (you looked at the title of the review, didn’t you?), you hit the jackpot.
Who would go to such a place, especially in that continent’s winter which lasts for eight months, most of which are in total darkness? For one, rich people who shell out $8,000 for a 10-day cruise with Lindblad, the purpose of which would be to tell everyone back home where they went on their vacation. For the purposes of this documentary, though, the 5,000 people who inhabit the world’s bottom (no pun intended) during the bright months are earning a paycheck. They might be scientists, technicians and also the administrative force who do the cooking, the inventory, the loading and unloading of supplies. To give us a better picture of what it’s like at a place that few of us will ever travel to, Anthony Powell spent ten years in the making of this film. Powell shows us Antarctica as though it were inhabited only by the penguins, and he shows us Antarctica as its nature is changed by its multi-national population.
What he does not show us is how to pronounce the word. Everyone interviewed, though, leaves the “c” silent. Dictionary.com allows both: silent “c” and vocalized “c.” I prefer the latter because it sound more educated.
At the beginning of every summer—that’s October – February when the sun shines 24 hours a day—workers fly into Antarctica largely from Christchurch, New Zealand. Some use planes of the U.S. air force, and each of them saves the aforementioned $8,000 because of employment. We are shown the U.S. base, which is the largest, but also get a glimpse of bases from New Zealand, Russia, South Africa among others. The subjects of the film are not scientists but administrative people. One of the problems from the audience point of view is: Powell does not go into what these folks really do for a living, why their countries hire them, though the term “satellite engineer” slips through. How about more information? It’s nice to see that they party, that they can toss a bottle of water outside in the -40 temperature and have the water turn into ice drops before it hits the snow.
It’s nice to know that penguins have the intelligence of chickens, that you can see stars, millions of them it seems, even when nobody knocks you out. It’s fine to see the place bombarded by green light, heartbreaking to note that some seals are stuck out of water and the human beings are prohibited from helping them (let nature take its course). But really, I want to go there without paying $8,000. Where do I apply? Who wants me?
And who needs a United Nations when people from the various countries get together for a big New Year’s Eve celebration, all getting along just fine? Couldn’t we fit seven billion of the world’s people on a continent larger than the U.S. and watch us all get along?
What separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls, is whether you stay in Antarctica during its winter months—without sunlight. The bold people may go somewhat stir-crazy but they’re heroes in the director’s book. At least that is what comes across is this National Geographic-type doc that could have gone more deeply into the personalities of the individuals interviewed. I’d want to know what sort of person takes a dip in the water under these conditions when barely anybody in Coney Island takes part in Brooklyn’s polar bear club, swimming in the Atlantic in January.
Unrated. 92 minutes. © Harvey Karten, Member, New York Film Critics Online
Story – B-
Acting – B
Technical – A
Overall – B
