Ice People

This was a fascinating look at life somewhere near the South Pole. The film follows a group of scientists and students who are involved in a research project that involves digging up soil samples and analyzing them. We get to know a little about the members of this group and how they go about their lives and work. The sweeping, majestic views of ice covered mountains and frozen plains are stunning, and it is worth watching this just to see those.

Having said that, the film does have some flaws. The audience never gets any kind of overview of what is going on - who the people are, what their project is all about, what they have to do to survive in this frozen wilderness. This is not a television documentary; director Aghion prefers showing over telling, but she does have things to show us. And at 77 minutes, it is short for a feature-length film. I am still very glad I saw this, tho -- I have never seen anything like it before.