I guess it's going to be a slow week on the blog. But I wanted to share this brief clip from the Werner Herzog documentary "Encounters at the End of the World." A strange and beautiful film about a strange and beautiful place.
Filmmaker Werner Herzog takes you on a wild and woolly journey to the South Pole in this Oscar contender — from the National Science Foundation's headquarters on Ross Island to some of Antarctica's most remote and dangerous terrain. With a keen eye for the wonders and sometimes hilarious peculiarities of this icy land's animal and human inhabitants, Herzog offers an astounding look at the world's most inhospitable landscape. (Netflix.com)
If you can get past Herzog's sometimes cranky commentary (calling the arobics and yoga classes offered at the South Pole research station "abominations" and wondering aloud why society indulges silly "tree huggers" for example) Encounters is a mesmerizing glimpse into a strange and beautiful place. Follow researchers as they peek into an active volcano, shuffle out onto an iceberg the size of a continent, dive under the ceiling of arctic ice and observe an ocean floor full of strange life forms, listen to the sonic music of seals, crawl inside the tunnels of a naturally formed fumarole. In addition to showing us the natural beauty of the South Pole, Herzog introduces us to some of the fascinating people who have gravitated there, including Dr. Gorham, a physicist involved in a neutrino detection experiment.
What are neutrinos? According to Dr. Gorham they are "the most ridiculous particle you can imagine." But in addition, these elementary particles are responsible for the creation of the universe as we know it. And, he adds,
Neutrinos seem to exist in another place...in their own separate universe. As a physicist, even though I understand it mathematically and intellectually, it still hits me in the gut — that there is something here surrounding me that is almost like some kind of spirit or God that I can't touch, but I can measure. It's like measuring the spirit world or something.
9 comments:
Thank you heaps for sharing this... I hold a big dream of one day going to the South Pole. The other dream, Tibet and Nepal will be this year. Hopefully the South Pole not long afterwards... Wonderful post. Particularly interesting are the 'spirit' particles !
Tibet and Nepal are pretty high on my list too (though not the South I must admit). Did you see "Unmistaken Child?" The scenes of Tibetan countryside are stunning.
Herzog's crankiness tickles my funny bone. Just the thought of the guy makes me chuckle. I'm not sure why that is... maybe the Buddhist in me has a subtle agreement with his nihilism.
herzog is a trip for sure. my friend old pajamas loved him so via op i watched a lot of herzog films. thanks for the heads up on this new one.
I think he's pretty funny too. In this movie he asks a researcher if there are any gay penguins, and calls the arobics and yoga classes that have popped up on the South Pole "abominations."
I remember the 'gay pengunins' question, at which point I thought "Who are you, Brian Fellows?"
Ha! Brian Fellows..."that penguin's craaaaazy!"
Just added this to my Netflix queue.
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