Toronto – Sunny, sunny Toronto. On the first gorgeous weekend of the year, what better way to spend it then spend it indoors watching documentaries — about Antarctica? The scene was Sunday, at 12:45 and the documentary was “The Last Continent“. To spare you from my typical non nonchalant, semi-detailed-that-might-be-right-or-wrong description, Here is the description of the documentary, according to the press kit:
“Biologist and filmmaker Jean Lemire, accompanied aboard the schooner Sedna IV by a
handpicked team of scientists and filmmakers, dared to experience climate change and
its consequences within Antarctica’s icy grip. More than a full year of daring, isolation, danger, intensity: it was a spectacular adventure full of risks and triumphs, joys and perils. The crew was prepared for the worst but faced even worse!“
So how was this doc? The cinematography was off the charts. They get some excellent shots of everything in Antarctica. Icebergs, penguins, seals, birds, whales – everything looks nice. Most of this film, which runs about 90 minutes or so, you will be thinking ‘wow, this looks nice’.
The story itself is okay, as you can gather from press kit, the team is staying in Antarctica for a year, and they do face struggles, but it really doesn’t look or seem as hard as the summary makes it to be. I am sure its somewhat difficult, but from the movie itself, it barely touches on any of the difficulties of living in such a place. If you go from the documentary alone, it seems like a day in the park. That would be my only complaint. I was expecting like – mental breakdowns, arguments, hysteria, scurvy – and all I got was a seal pup that might have been abandoned by its mom, but not really.
The movie is in french, with subtitles and yeah, its about how climate change (and THE MAN) is destroying the environment. So as with a lot of french movies, theres a lot of pondering, rhetorical questions and green hippy subliminal messages splatter thru out the film. There are also some funny scenes which made a friend of mine compare it to ‘The Life Aquatic’.
Overall, I would recommend this movie – the cinematography is phenomenal and as green hippy as the messages you get from this film are, it is a valid one.
4/5