Thanks
to climate change, the spirit of adventure is alive and well. More mild summer
temperatures have made some of Greenland’s most remote northern fjords briefly
navigable. It is an invitation from nature a ragtag party of scientists and
artists could not refuse. Daniel Dencik documents their journey in Expedition to the End of the World (trailer here), which opens this
Wednesday at Film Forum.
The
Activ is a three-mast schooner, but it cuts through the ice quite efficiently.
It might be an old school means of travel, but at least one crewmember brought
along his personal ultralight aircraft. They are a somewhat eccentric bunch,
who periodically blast Metallica and engage in DIY skeet shooting. There is the
geologist, the geochemist, the geographer, the zoologist, the archaeologist,
the painter, and the theologist. There might even be a cobbler and a
candlestick maker onboard somewhere.
Without
question, the natural beauty of the surrounding vistas is strikingly cinematic.
Dencik also has the integrity to include some exchanges that do not exactly
match up with viewer expectations, as when several scientists tell us just
because they study climate change does not necessarily mean they have an
opinion on the subject. He also captures a good deal of ruckus (bordering on
meathead) behavior—some of it involving firearms.
However,
nearly everyone seems to be trying out lines to use on the lecture circuit
later. Frankly, at times the interview segments sound like a collection of
fortune cookies written by Stephen Jay Gould. There is also a rather
conspicuous question hanging over the film. We are told climate change has only
now made this picturesque stretch of land accessible to mankind, but since
there seem to be traces of ancient humanity there, does that not suggest temperatures
were once roughly commensurate to what they are now?
