Documentary Reviews!

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD


Werner Herzog is like heroin. Once you get into one of his films, you must have more. His narrative films are pretty similar to his documentary work. Experimental. I really dug his last narrative, Rescue Dawn with Christian bale, and I didn't think I would. Grizzly Man was a tour de force in my book as far as documentaries go. And King of Kong is on par with that one as well. I had the opportunity to watch his newest documentary, Encounters at the End of the World. This film looks at a place called Antarctica. Who lives there, and why. It was all shot and sound recorded by Herzog himself and one other crew member, cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger. They got a plane to Antarctica with no plan, other than they had 7 weeks to make a documentary about something.



What they find there is a group of people and animals mind you all drawn to a similar need. Through the course of the film, that need seems to be nature. What is it, and how does it adapt in these circumstances. A lot of the people there may be labeled extremists but most them are scientists trying to figure out the many mysteries of Earth. The underwater footage is breathtaking. In fact the footage there is what drew Herzog to go there in the first place. This is not the most focused documentary mind you, but is the bravest in quite some time. Any fan of Herzog knows he will do almost anything for his art. And as long as that spirit is alive, his films will continue to resonate with a passion that few other filmmakers dare to undertake.



BIGGER STRONGER FASTER



The next doc on the slater for me was Bigger Stronger Faster. This doc is from new filmmaker Chris Bell and details the wild world of steroid use in America starting around the later 70's until today. Bell uses his own family of brothers to anchor the story on a personal level. All three brothers were obsessed with Hulk Hogan, Arnold, Sly and the 80's tough American stereotype. So naturally they all went into wrestling and body building. And each has or still is using "the juice". Amongst his own story Bell carefully weaves all the other steroid drama from baseball to Wrestling and even does a great job analyzing all those 80's action flicks from Sly and Arnold and how those films really influenced my generation into thinking bigger was better. Regardless of the price you or your loved ones might pay because of that perception.



I thought the film did a great job from minute one in telling this mini-epic that stemmed from 80's action movies and wrestling and continues on today with no end in sight. The documentary gives a fair look at what steroids actually are thanks to the fact that the fimmakers own brothers are active users of the stuff. So in way I guess this film is very much in the style of Super Size Me, because the maker is really in the world he is examining. And it's quite fun to watch his journey. I may be slightly biased in my review because I am the same ages of the subjects here, and I completely understood where the idol worship came from. Who didn't want to work out and wear black shades and drive Brigette Nielson around after seeing the genius of Stallone's Cobra? These guys took it to the next level. Highly recommended.