The South Pole has lured scientists, adventurers and eccentrics like a magnet, ever since Ernest Shackleton ventured there a century ago. It seems inevitable that Werner Herzog should make his own South Pole exploration. In documentaries such as Grizzly Man, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Lessons of Darkness and many others, Herzog has proven to be our cinematic poet laureate of men (and occasionally women) living in extremes. In Encounters at the End of the World, Herzog travels to the Antarctic community of McMurdo Station, on Ross Island, the headquarters for the National Science Foundation and home to eleven hundred people during the austral summer (October to February.) Beyond the settlement, he ventures through a science-fiction landscape, from the under-ice depths of the Ross Sea, to the brink of the Mount Erebus volcano.

Ever wonder how reincarnations of deceased Buddhist masters are found and recognized? Unmistaken Child chronicles Nepalese monk Tenzin Zopa’s lengthy search for the new embodiment of Geshe Lama Konchog, a revered Rinpoche who died in 2001. Observing rather than explaining ancient traditions, Israeli director Nati Baratz’s fascinating insider’s perspective inspires as many questions as it answers. After signs at “Geshe-La’s” cremation pyre indicate an imminent reincarnation, senior lamas in India consult Taiwanese astrologers and learn there’s a high probability that the baby’s father’s name starts with an “A” and that he will come from a place beginning with “TS”” Those clues take 28-year-old Zopa on a long stay in Nepal’s spectacular Tsum Valley where he inspects an array of runny-nosed tots to see if they recognize his master’s rosary. While the film is ostensibly about the identification and education of a remarkable child, it also portrays hardworking Zopa’s evolution from shy disciple to resourceful teacher, capturing the beauty in wild nature and timeless, elaborate Buddhist rites and rituals.

(Seattle)

With the excuse of freedom, we lose so many things. — Silvio Barile

O’er the Land is Deborah Stratman’s meditation on freedom and technological approaches to manifest destiny. She captures the marching-band battle cries of the country with a strong, controlled tone that proves its point but is extremely playful, too. Stratman documents the wild, wild worlds of gun shows—ones where you can fire machine guns in the forest and literally blow stuff up, reenactments of famous battles with historically accurate weapons and clothes (golf carts and Pepsi trucks in the wings), border disputes, and the organized frenzy of cheerleaders and motor homes. All are framed by the incredible experiences of Colonel William Rankin, who, in 1959, was forced to eject from his F8-U fighter jet at 48,000 feet without a pressure suit, only to get trapped for 45 minutes in the up-and-down drafts of a massive thunderstorm. Miraculously he survived.The scale of practicing war as a game is colossal and hard to grasp at times. Stratman captures the events she depicts with wonder rather than disdain. Her thoughtful framing of images and meticulous editing help us understand the absurdity in this dark path.

(Sundance)

Brothers Bill and Turner Ross assembled four seasons’ worth of images from their hometown of Sidney, Ohio (zip code 45365), ranging from the mundane to the sublime, and the result is a 21st-century Midwestern American Graffiti. Vividly shot sequences of playground romps, traffic violations, football games, and demolition derbies are enhanced by a soundtrack made up of local disc jockeys, overheard phone conversations, and a particularly charming and poetic use of a classic tune by the Flamingos.  Expansive and cumulative, 45365 is a big interpretation of small-town life.  TM

(FULL FRAME)

Flipper was one of the most beloved television characters of all time. But ironically, the fascination with dolphins that he caused created a tragic epidemic that has threatened their existence and become a multibillion dollar industry. The largest supplier of dolphins in the world is located in the picturesque town of Taijii, Japan. But the town has a dark, horrifying secret that it doesn’t want the rest of the world to know. There are guards patrolling the cove, where the dolphin capturing takes place, who prevent any photography. The only way to stop the evil acts of this company and the town that protects it is to expose them….and that’s exactly what the brave group of activists in The Cove intend to do.

Armed with state-of-the-art surveillance equipment, the members of the small group, led by the most famous dolphin trainer in the world, devise a covert plan to infiltrate the cove to document the horrifying events that happen there. Along the way, they uncover what may be the largest health crisis facing our planet— the poisoning of our seas. Part environmental documentary, part horror film, part spy thriller, The Cove is as suspenseful as it is enlightening. The final result is a heart-wrenching, but inspirational, story that shows the true power of film in the hands of people who aren’t afraid to risk everything for a vital cause.

(FROM SUNDANCE FF)

OCTOBER COUNTRY is a haunting multi-generational story of a working-class family coping with poverty, teen pregnancy, foster care and the ineffable horrors of child molestation and war. A co-directing effort by filmmaker Michael Palmieri and photographer and writer Donal Mosher, it follows Donal’s family in Herkimer, New York from one Halloween to the next, resulting in a beautifully crafted film remarkable for its intimacy, sensitivity and textured portrait of a family in crisis that has become all too familiar, if not representative, of America’s poor.

Who are the Moshers? Don, the emotionally remote and dry-witted head of the family, returned from Vietnam plagued by nightmares about his dead friends and admits he’s an ass who takes a hard line on foolishness. Dottie, his intrepid and eternally optimistic wife, forms the emotional glue for the family. Don’s estranged sister, Denise, is a practicing witch and a lifelong outsider who takes us to the cemetery she frequents to meet her ghost friends. Don and Dottie’s daughter, Donna, grew up too fast, picked men who beat her and gave birth to Daneal as a teen. Daneal also had a teenage pregnancy with a man who beat her and is ill-equipped to care for the toddler now that they have divorced. Donna’s youngest daughter, Desi, is a clever girl who is aware of the bad examples set by her sister and mother. She just might avoid repeating their mistakes and thereby overcome her own tragic history. As the Mosher family does their best to grapple with their lives, circumstances and decisions, we root for them—especially Desi, who holds such promise.

(FROM SILVERDOCS)