Alone in the Wilderness | The ALASKAthon

The wish to just pack up our dearest belongings and burn or leave the rest, to wander off into the wilderness and start a new life without the complications of modern society - I think most of us have felt that wish one or several times in our lives. It's something that I've always associated Alaska with - the goodbye to society, that crazy breed as Eddie Vedder calls it in one of his songs. In the course of history, there have been a number of women and men who succumbed to this wish, which I do not doubt burnt much harder in them than it does in most of us who have not succumbed to it.

Grizzly Man | The ALASKAthon

The concept of craziness is a crazy one. Though it may seem like there's far between the people who see themselves as normal and someone with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, depression or anorexia, there is something seemingly 'crazy' about everyone. Think about it: haven't you called most of your friends crazy at least once (probably more often)? What's more, haven't you called yourself crazy at least a dozen times? Having quirks is part of having a personality, being a grown-up person. Though even babies and animals are often describes as 'acting crazy' or 'having a crazy fit' or simply being 'a little crazy'. Where is the line between an actual mental illness - insanity - and the common craziness of humanity, of life?

Timothy Treadwell, the curious protagonist of Werner Herzog's 2005 documentary Grizzly Man was probably more than 'a little crazy', but at the very least, this describes him pretty well. The self-proclaimed protector of the grizzly bears spent more time in the company of those animals than any other human has ever done. For 13 summers, he set up his tent in remote areas of Alaskan national parks and studied grizzlies, of which 5 years were recorded on camera, adding up to 100 hours worth of material. Treadwell's remains were found at the end of summer 2003 along with those of his girlfriend Amy Huguenard - they had been killed and torn apart by a gigantic male bear. 

Cousteau Mini Blogathon: Voyage au bout du monde

YEAR: 1976; DIRECTOR: Philippe Cousteau, Jacques-Yves Cousteau

With this review of Voyage to the Edge of the World, my Cousteau Mini Blogathon comes to an end. It was out of a spontaneous mood that I started this little project, knowing that it would catch little interest among my readers as Cousteau with his 4-5 films isn't exactly a man of the cinema (although he won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature two times). 

I'm still glad to see that there was a handful of people that read my posts, and maybe it's not too much to hope for that someone got inspired to watch some Cousteau film. 

World Without Sun remaining my true favourite of the three movies I watched and reviewed for this event, I did enjoy Voyage to the Edge of the World. It was the most conventional documentary of the three, with a special 70s flair to it. Something about the lighting. 

Being accustomed with J. Cousteau's voice-over from the first two movies, it was an interesting alternation to be listening to his son Philippe during the underwater sequences of this movie. Clearly, Jacques himself has grown much older since the 12 years older World Without Sun, which is why he didn't participate in the diving this time. It was amazing to see what the Arctic sea looks like under the surface, regardless of the fact that we've seen it before many times. The feeling that we are the first to see these intriguing shots, and the scientists' enthusiasm just really comes across. Like, "whaaat, the iceberg is actually 7 times larger under the surface?!".

I just love it when films are able to capture me like that. And that without really proving or discovering anything - quite an accomplishment for a nature documentary. 

What Voyage to the Edge of the World did was show things, and show a few people's love for those things. As well as their fear. But no risk no fun, right? I'm pretty sure this was the mantra of the people who made this. Climbing a giant sphinx-formed iceberg and diving into its grottos is near to suicide. But when you get the best and never before seen shots of more than 1000 year old chunks of ice, forming a complex tunnel system, that's pretty much worth it, I guess.

And although Voyage to the Edge of the World neither had a title as catching, nor an ending sentence as inspiring (though it was quite great) as the ones of Cousteau's previous films, it still lingers with me. 

Adding up to the knowledge I have gained from the previous three nights.

The final frame

Cousteau Mini Blogathon: Le monde sans soleil

YEAR: 1964; DIRECTOR: Jacques-Yves Cousteau; WRITERS: J. Cousteau, James Dugan

Aside from winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and starting with the same two words, Le monde sans soleil („World Without Sun“) has nothing much in common with the previously discussed Cousteau film Le monde du silence („The Silent World“).

While the latter is a fairly interesting depiction of ocean science in the mid-fifties, accompanied by beautiful underwater shots, the film I'm writing about today both has beautiful underwater shots and a story, even conflicts.

The most interesting of these is the question whether, and under what circumstances, man is able to survive deep down under the surface of the sea - and even more interestingly; what impacts such a way of living has on the human body and soul. Cousteau and his scientists have dived deeper since their last journey on film, and instead of taking small trips to the mysterious silent world without sun, they now spend most of their time in it. The "Continental Shelf Station Two" has become their home for the next 30 days, and during that time the men themselves grow more and more silent. 

As in The Silent World, a few enviromentally and morally questionable incidents can be found in World Without Sun, but generally it seems Cousteau has grown more aware of that problem. His fear for shark remains just as strong though, and each time one of the "beasts" enters the surrounding waters, you can expect to hear creepy tunes á la Spielberg's Jaws.

Another of the scientists admits in one scene, that he is afraid of sleeping at night, for he feels he is surrounded by creatures that seem to origin from his worst nightmares. Personally, this was one of my favourite scenes, at least for its great narrative, cutting from the mentioned scientist to shots of those night-active and wondrous creatures that are then accompanied by a monologue of the man. It's hard to explain, but I really liked it. 

Generally, fewer of the scenes seemed as artificial as in the first film, though I don't know the cause for this. Maybe Cousteau listened to his critics. But of course most of the scenes don't even have any potential to seem artificial, as the main part of the footage consists of underwater shots or shots of the crew that don't include dialogue. I loved the diving parts - often it felt like the men became real creatures of the sea, as elegantly and casually as they were swimming around with the fish. It made me want to learn diving too, so I understand that the film caused an intense interest in sport diving. 

If you don't know much about Cousteau yet and would like to start out with something you most likely are going to enjoy, I recommend watching World Without Sun. The same goes for anyone interested in documentaries, as this one really is a must-watch, not only for winning the Oscar. 

World Without Sun is my clear favourite of Cousteau's filmic work until now and I am very surprised about its quality after the more or less disappointing The Silent World.

The final frame

If I caught your interest, read the first post in the Cousteau Mini Blogathon: Le monde du silence

Cousteau Mini Blogathon: Le monde du silence

YEAR: 1956; DIRECTORS: Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Louis Malle; WRITER: Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Having read and heard much about Cousteau, I actually don't know a bit about him. The Cousteau Mini Blogathon, consisting of three famous documentaries by or with the famous scientist and filmmaker, is supposed to change this. 

In case you know even less than I do, here's a brief summarization of what I know: Cousteau invented a lot of cool stuff for ocean science and discovered many new animals and plants. Furthermore, he was just you know, cool like that, and he hated sharks. He also wrote tons of books. Oh, and his ship was called the Calypso.

Moving on to my first Cousteau film, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Palme D'Or, the only documentary to achieve this aside from Fahrenheit 9/11.

If I were to sum up my viewing experience in three words, I'd say: „boring... disgusting... fascinating“.

BOREDOM

I have often been slightly ashamed when I was bored by an acclaimed film, especially if it was very calm and nothing much happened. Keyword silent film. However, I decided to think differently from now on, because trying to not be bored by a film I was bored by, would be just like trying to be bored by a film I was entertained by - and I would never do that. 

The Silent World wasn't about suspense or science, it was about something entirely else, which I will talk about in the last paragraph. So, obviously, I found it boring. Although I'm interested in oceanography and similar. A man diving through an abandoned shipwreck for 10 minutes is boring, though fascinating as well. But we'll get to that.

And before I forget it: many scenes on board seemed like the scientists were acting. Badly. 

DISGUST

It's not like I'm one of those extremist biological and ecological food maniacs, but I do care about the environment and the way we treat other life-forms. So watching some so-called scientists massacre sharks just because they want to eat a whale cadaver isn't exactly what I find entertaining, nor even acceptable. Same goes for the same "scientists" placing dynamite in a coral reef in order to "study" the animals in it. However, wikipedia tells me that these two points were criticized by many people and that Cousteau changed his mind later on and became very much environmentally active. Thank God.

FASCINATION

The thing The Silent World became most known for was its revolutionary and extremely fascinating underwater shots and cinematography, and I completely understand that. Even today, being spoiled by documentaries like Blue Planet and what else their called, much of the material is capturing and soothes the mind (except when sharks are around). There was even one thing I don't remember having seen before: corals deep under the surface, like 60-75 meters, were illuminated, and you could see the bright colours that became even brighter the deeper you went. 

I can only imagine what it must have been like to see this in the mid-fifties. 

The final word

Despite its many flaws, The Silent World remains a must-watch for people interested in documentary and oceanography, and I don't regret having seen it. However, there are better films of the like.