German director Werner Herzog who has managed a distinguished career alternating fact and fiction is in documentary mode with Encounters at the End of the World (Cert PG) in which he travels to Antartica, arriving at McMurdo Station, a grubby frontier town which is home to 1,100 people during the summer.
The film consists of interviews with researchers, scientists and "dreamers," the odd collection of travellers who have fetched up there to work, and fly-on-the-wall observation of their activities. Once he gets away from McMurdo there's some eye-open
ing stuff and beautiful images of underwater life under the ice, a wayward penguin, an underground cavern and bubbling volcano.
Watch the latest film trailersIt's a rather unfocused film, but Herzog is suggesting that mankind's thirst for exploration and scientific discovery is a pursuit for glory which will not prevent the self-destruction of the world.
Buy the Sheffield Telegraph and the Property Guide every Thursday. To subscribe CLICK HERE
MORE:
Local News
Local Sport
Arts Guide
Community News
Listings Guide
Restaurant Guide
Letters