VIFF Review: Ice People

Ice People
Pacific Cinematheque
Thursday, October 3 2008 1:30pm

The first light of the austral spring sun lights the horizon in Antarctica, signalling the end of the dark winter. For the scientists living and working at McMurdo Station it is time again to venture back into the field. This documentary is a look into the life of geologists working in the coldest, driest, most remote place on Earth.

Visually the landscape of Antarctica is spectacular. The region the geologists is exploring looks remarkably like the U.S. southwest desert. With massive buttes rising out of the vast brick coloured plain, and surrounded by distant mountains, you could almost believe you were in Arizona if it wasn't for the -20C temperature and dusting of snow. Leaf fossils reveal the history of the region. What is now polar desert was once a temperate forest and lake.

The most noticeable difference with this film from most other science documentaries is how quiet it is. There is a complete lack of narration, and barely a music soundtrack. It's a very natural soundscape with only the sound of the wind, the crunch of footsteps, the scraping of shovels, and the laboured breathing of the scientists. Using only the available sound is effective in communicating the feeling of isolation and smallness in this vast land.

The downside of no narration or soundtrack is that it makes the film dull and sometimes puzzling. Interviews and footage of the geologists as they work and live out of tents in the field reveals something of their scientific work and life down under but still leaves so much unexplained and unexplored. A circumspect and ultimately unsatisfying film which could have been much more interesting with more post production.