ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD - Blu-ray review

My good friend Chris Long wrote an excellent review of Encounters at the End of the World for Cineaste that can be found at http://www.cineaste.com/articles/encounters-at-the-end-of-the-world.htm. This is no surprise considering that he wrote his Master's thesis on Werner Herzog's documentaries.

I met Chris at Chapman University while we were both Film Studies grad students. Dr. Warren Buckland taught me 85% of what I learned at Chapman. Chris taught me 10% of what I learned at Chapman. The remaining 5% is allotted to miscellaneous personnel. Chris was a better teacher than all of my other professors (excepting Dr. Buckland) combined, and I think that DVDTown.com's readers should pay close attention to what he writes.

Among "serious" movie reviewers (i.e. not hobbyists) who write in the English language, there are only two who consistently engage and delight me--Manohla Dargis (currently of The New York Times) and Chris Long. Chris is fearless and honest; he is one of the few reviewers who aren't afraid to deliver negative reviews of DVDs released by Criterion. I am proud to have been responsible for introducing Chris to DVDTown.com, and I salute him.

Video:
It appears that Herzog lensed the movie with a 1080i digital video camera, and the transfer is excellent. Some scenes are a little dark since Herzog had to make-do with natural lighting, but the end result is nowhere near as disappointing with the SD DVD. In fact, the 1.78:1 1080i video transfer is often breathtaking, especially when the camera is flying over a steaming volcano and when the filmmakers are underwater, capturing images that are rarely seen.

Audio:
The DTS-HD MA 5.1 English track is quite grand, with a wide dispersal of the majestic music and solid reproduction of Herzog's calm, authoritative voice. Although you don't get a lot of pyrotechnics blowing out your rear speakers, the sound design makes effective use of whispering winds to convey the vast desolation of the bottom of the Earth.

Extras:
There's an audio commentary by Werner Herzog, producer Henry Kaiser, and cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger. As with his narration, Herzog's dry wit is very amusing, though the three participants also discuss the details of life in Antarctica as well as various aspects of the production.

"Under the Ice", "Over the Ice", "Dive Locker Interview", "South Pole Exorcism", and "Seals & Men" are featurettes with additional footage shot during the production of this movie as well as before Herzog ever got to Antarctica.

The only extra on Disc 2 is an hour-long presentation of a chat between Jonathan Demme and Werner Herzog at the Museum of the Moving Image. This is a wide-ranging discussion that is philosophical and frequently quite moving.

You also get the movie's theatrical trailer.

--Miscellaneous--
The nice thing about Blu-ray is that the movie and all of the extras fit on one platter--no disc swapping necessary, as with the DVD edition.