At the Edge of the World

by VIFF
In late November 2006, a documentary crew accompanied 46  international  volunteers from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as they  embarked on  their third Antarctic campaign to stop Japanese whaling. What  emerged was At  the Edge of the World, an intrepid record of modern-day  piracy and the  high-stakes battle between commerce and ecological  survival.

Tracking the whaling fleet (which slips through a loophole in  the conservation laws to kill and process close to a thousand whales each  season) over the glorious vastness of the Ross Sea, the crews of the two Sea  Shepherd vessels face crippling seasickness and deadly ice packs.

 

Tedium is mitigated by the frigid beauty of their surroundings (captured in breathtaking  frames by no fewer than seven sure-footed cinematographers) and regular safety  drills.

"Is there a sign for 'man overboard' ?" wonders one anxious  volunteer, clearly anticipating the risks of an enterprise committed to fouling  Japanese propellers and perfecting a maneuver cheekily named "the can-opener." 

 

Directed by Dan Stone to highlight moral as well as legal conflicts, this  strikingly humane film may function as a prequel to Animal Planet's "Whale Wars"  but is light years ahead in visual clarity and narrative ambition.-Jeannette  Catsoulis, The New York Times