Herzog doesn't seem to care about the polar scenery that the BBC and others often present. The tall icebergs, the fat emperor penguins, the bizarre aurora, etc., are all invisible here. The Antarctic that Herzog presented to us is an Antarctic marked by a deep human brand. What we saw from his lens was an Antarctic base camp like a large construction site full of mud pits, and people lived in containers-like houses. The first thing a person who arrives in Antarctica has to do is not to watch the beautiful scenery, but to learn how to survive in the polar region. Seven or eight people wearing plastic buckets (simulating the sensory effects of polar night or snowstorm) were tied to the same rope and walked in the wrong direction step by step. This training intuitively illustrates the harsh living conditions in Antarctica. And how vulnerable people are under such conditions.
Herzog always pays attention to people, people who have been stationed for various reasons in the ice and snow of Antarctica for many years. Behind every door here, there is an extraordinary story. Here, bankers drive buses, philosophers excavate earthmovers, doctoral students grow vegetables, and biologists hold rock concerts. This colorful crowd also includes some strange characters, such as the female tourist who traveled long distances in a garbage truck, cut off the water in the desert, and drank two small glasses of water a day to make a living. Her face was heavily wrinkled, and during the interview she was painting an oil painting with a blood-red bow stabbing upward.
Herzog showed us an Antarctic group of scientists. These people who do not often appear in front of the public have their unique personalities under the lens of Herzog. The one who impressed me the most was the penguin expert. He really doesn't like to talk, but Herzog is happy to tease him. The question to him is funny: Hey, I heard that Penguins are also gay? The other party just smiled shyly and said concisely (I typed words from memory, please find script for precise dialogue): Well, I haven't seen it in this group of penguins. But they are engaged in a love triangle, two males are pursuing a female... Oh, some people say that there are prostitutes among penguins, and a female penguin has sex with many male penguins. In fact, what she wanted was the male penguin's stone (I don't understand why the penguin wants a stone?). She wanted a lot of stones, but she couldn't do it. What to do, she had to steal it. She ran to the male penguin. People thought she was sending him XXX at the door, so they happily went to XXX her, but it's not the case at all. What she wants is stones.
How funny! And this turned out to be said by a person who is said to have been reluctant to talk to humans.
There is also a pair of scientists who observe seals, and the woman is responsible for testing the mother seal’s milk. I was quite disgusted with experimenting with animals, but after reading her interview, I suddenly felt that she was not that hateful. She said that it was completely silent here, and when there was no wind, there was no sound at all. But if you live for a long time, you will hear a lot of voices coming from underground. The place where we camped is the frozen sea, and the ocean is under our feet, and many creatures swim in the unfrozen water. Seals swim under our feet, and they will call out. What does that sound look like? Pink Floyd. These words reminded me of her life outside the bottles in the laboratory, for example, she also listened to Pink Floyd.
There are so many wonderful people living here. The biologist who likes to watch science fiction films for the last dive, the geologist who was once concentrated by the volcanic eruption but started again, the scientist who talked about his B-15 iceberg endlessly to the camera, erected a huge balloon to capture it. Some kind of subatomic physicist decorating his huge equipment box with Native Hawaiian patterns.
Herzog also shoots nature. He took a picture of a penguin who had run away and headed lonely towards the mountain. It didn't know that it was going in the wrong direction, and the one waiting for it was death. He walked through people's camp, but people couldn't stop it from moving forward. Even if it is sent back to the correct route, it will still turn around and head towards the mountain. Herzog asked, Why? no one knows. People can only see off this penguin who is heading for death. The penguin, like Oedipus, ran towards fate. How many times have people walked toward their destiny under the gaze of God!
Is Herzog's movie what the NSF wants to see? I have no idea. NSF has always sponsored science. Herzog's films did talk about a lot of science-related content, but I always feel that he is not in line with the NSF's goals. He is not thinking about scientific issues, but humanistic issues. What he thought was that mankind occupied the Antarctic, and the earth has no secrets for mankind. Is this a good thing or a bad thing for mankind?
The two people who came here on the expedition 100 years ago left a wooden house in Antarctica, which was filled with cans and goods brought from Britain at that time. They had explored for the grand vision of the British Empire, but today, these cans and objects are turned into exhibits for visitors to watch, and the British Empire dream has become an old chapter in history. Antarctica is a dream of mankind to explore the mysteries of nature, but who can predict that one day, this dream will not become the dust of history like the original British Empire dream?
Herzog's Antarctic dedicate to us his humanistic thinking on the scientific world. The relationship between man and nature, man and technology, technology and nature is so subtle. Humans use technology to turn nature into human nature, but the power of nature can easily erase everything, including those who have changed it. Perhaps after the next ice age, humans will no longer exist, and this icy world will continue to exist in its own way.
View more about Encounters at the End of the World reviews
