Encounters at the End of the World (2007)
94 %
Reviews Counted: 69 Fresh: 65 Rotten:4 Average Rating: 7.6/10
Consensus:
Encounters at the End of the World offers a poignant study of the human psyche amid haunting landscapes.
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Theatrical Release: Jun 11, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $723,966
Synopsis: Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, Rescue Dawn) confirms his standing as poet laureate of men in extreme situations with Encounters at the End of the World. In this visually stunning exploration, Herzog travels to the Antarctic community of McMurdo Station, headquarters of the National Science... [More]
Genre: Education/General Interest
Starring: Werner Herzog
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Reviews
Comment
Herzog has made a nearly 40-year career out of following eccentrics and madmen, revealing that even the seemingly insane can have engrossing, vital things to say.
08/18/08
It's filled with small riches, not least of which is the director's amazing narration.
08/15/08
Top Critic
There's something highly entertaining, kind of hilarious and almost endearing about director Werner Herzog's insistence on reacting to each new revelation in his documentary films with a pronouncement of doom...
08/12/08
A sweeping portrait of Antarctica's barren emptiness tinged with pockets of hidden, quirky beauty.
08/10/08
... unlike some sound-the-alarm documentaries with a more overt political agenda, Encounters at the End of the World takes after its creator, who allows his extraordinary subjects -- human and otherwise -- to speak for themselves. And, perhaps, for
08/08/08
At once haunting and surprisingly engaging, a unique vision of a unique place and of the people crazy or dedicated enough (or both) to devote themselves to it.
08/08/08
Attempting to be too many things at once, it is ultimately not a satisfying story about humanity, nor does it truly capture the mysterious natural world of Antarctica.
07/30/08
Herzog’s fascination with the human mind is trumped only by his fear and loathing of the powerful forces of nature that continually crush it
07/29/08
[Director Werner Herzog] gets an almost perverse pleasure out of staring into abysses...
07/25/08
Antarctica, it turns out, is the perfect setting for Herzog to find the themes that have fascinated him: The mercilessness of nature, and the foolhardiness of humans who would challenge nature.
07/24/08
In the documentary Encounters at the End of the World, there’s a twist that swiftly counters Herzog’s instincts: Mankind’s industrial supremacy has not excluded the South Pole.
07/24/08
There are many moments in the film where [Herzog's] essential liveliness breaks the wall of fatalism that he seems obliged to construct.
07/19/08
Herzog, contemporary cinema's most consistently lyrical examiner of the (in)human condition, returns to the documentary form in yet another wonderfully improbable locale: Antarctica, the literal bottom of the world.
07/18/08
This is Werner Herzog at his best -- a cynic with a big heart, and a nasty wit.
07/12/08
The sky is relentlessly blue, the sun bright even in the thick of night. In this odd and unforgettable place, Herzog has made his own poetry.
07/11/08
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