How stupid are we?
Destroying the planet that sustains us? Trekking solo in the Arctic at 75 years old?
Indeed, After Antarctica touches on some interesting human behavior. But it’s not here to shock or guilt or convince us of anything. Rather, it’s about one man’s connection with the last wildernesses our planet has to offer. And it is as beautiful and mature as movies come.
We begin it with Will, just choppin’ some wood. He needs fuel to heat his cabin off-grid in Minnesota. But he’s thinkin’, too, about his life. As one does when they’re about to do something that might kill them.
You see, after decades of exploring our planet, Will, at 75, still feels the need to walk in the wild. When he explains why, the camera zooms out from his red, crusted face and smacks us with reality. He is in the Arctic now, sitting alone, tiny, in a vast sea of freeze. A white so big it feels like it’ll implode under its own weight.
Smart edits and zooms like these add punch to Will’s already terribly interesting life story. He has adventured, seen death, gotten hitched. But this movie really knocks you out when Antarctica joins the ring.
In 1989, Will captained a small group of international explorers to study, walk, and sled across the entirety of Antarctica. From end to end, without motors or machines. It took seven months.
A talented film crew witnessed portions of that journey, and our current moviemakers unleash never-before-seen footage of such raw power and emotion that I began to feel the stupid one. Thinking humanity is stupid is stupid. We are capable of vastness, good and bad. Harming the planet, yes, but saving it, too. Assuming things about movies, then changing our minds.
With crevasses as big as your nightmares and mere rags separating skin from death, this movie is true thriller. True adventure and true superhero. But by zooming in to Will’s psyche and out to the Poles of past and present, this movie defies genre. It is a humbling, uplifting, and terrifying experience.
So am I sad? Miles of what Will has explored have melted away forever because of climate change. Will shows us so, understanding that he was the first and the last to see such places. But he doesn’t mope. After each adventure he returns to his cabin and the nearby wilderness center he founded. He educates his community about the planet so that they too can explore without destroying, should they choose to do so.