Penguin Derangement:
Encounters at the End of the World

December 10, 2008

The ice bound regions of our earth hold a special place in the history of documentary films. There is the 1919 Shackleton true life adventure South, Nannook of the North by Flaherty in 1922 (see my review here).. and then who can forget March of the Penguins (2006) and the National Geographic-style follow ups? Werner Herzog is cognizant of this cinematic polar tradition. In the opening minutes of Encounters at the End of the World as he explains his purpose for coming to Antarctica he dismisses the notion of making another penguin film.

Not surprisingly, his sequence on penguins is hilarious.. and telling. He meets a pensive penguin expert and plies him with questions about cases of gay and insane birds. The goal would appear to be to break down the family values aura woven around them in March of the Penguins. The penguin expert seems slightly at a loss, but Herzog finds his opening with the notion of "disoriented" penguins.. which he quickly terms "deranged." It seems that some birds lose their sense of direction and move with confidence toward the icy and bare inlands.. and certain death. In the picture at the top of this post you can see one penguin, having separated from others, making his way to nowhere (see also YouTube clip below). Herzog asks "but why?".. and provides no answer.

This penguin sequence is effective as a riposte to feel-good penguin films, but it also ties to an important theme of the documentary: misdirection and lostness. Herzog captures the survival training that anyone venturing out into Antarctica is required to go through. To simulate white out conditions a group must put buckets over their heads and try to reach a goal. Herzog finds this irresistible:

The scene in itself is colorful and funny.. but the symbolic value of this group failing to get anywhere is the deeper reason for its inclusion. Herzog is deeply pessimistic about the ability of humanity to survive and find a sustainable path.. and so these sequences of misdirection serve as object lessons.

This is one theme, but it would be impossible to tie Encounters at the End of the World to any single thematic goal. It is a successful and winding "meditation" or "essay" that takes as its raw material the Antarctic and all the people he finds there (thus the "encounters" in the title). When I think of my goals in creating video essays, this film by Herzog is an example of where I would like to get someday. It is a travel narrative that follows the experiences and impressions of Herzog as he learns about Antarctica. There is no sense of Herzog becoming an "expert" in the Antarctic and talking to his audience with that high-register knowing voice (perhaps the drawback of Flaherty's work). He is instead a significance-finder willing to listen and passively find the symbolic in his daily experience. Herzog is an artist (one who has not gotten enough attention in this blog) who has had a strong influence in my developing sense of what a film essay should be.