Ice, Penguins, and 1920s Loneliness: Entre los Hielos de las Islas Orcadas Review

If you are the kind of person who enjoys watching old, grainy footage of people in heavy coats looking at thermometers, then you should watch this today. You will probably hate it if you need things like dialogue or a plot to stay awake.

It is basically just a home movie from 1928 but the home is a tiny shack in the freezing Antarctic. José Manuel Moneta shot this while he was stationed down there, and you can tell he wasn't exactly a professional cameraman.

There is this one shot where the camera wobbles so much I actually felt a little seasick. It adds to the charm, I guess, because it feels like you're actually there on the boat with him. 🧊

The penguins are definitely the best part of the whole thing. They just stand there looking at the lens like they are trying to figure out what this weird human is doing.

I found myself thinking about how much more stressful it would be to watch The Escape compared to this. Here, nothing really happens, and that is actually kind of the point?

One scene lingers on a dog team for a long time. The dogs look tired, and frankly, so do the men.

You can see the exhaustion in the way they move through the snow. It makes modern life feel very easy and maybe a little bit soft.

I noticed a small moment where one of the guys is just eating soup. He looks so focused on that soup, like it's the only good thing that has happened in six months.

It reminded me of the slow pacing in Beyond the Law, except with more ice and fewer guns. There is no villain here except the weather.

The film quality is pretty rough in spots, with lines and scratches all over the place. Sometimes the black and white gets so washed out you can't tell where the ground ends and the sky begins.

It’s a bit like watching a ghost story, but the ghosts are just scientists. I wonder if they knew people would be watching their daily chores a hundred years later.

I would much rather watch this than something loud and fake like Skippers and Schemers. This feels real, even if it is a bit boring at times.

The ending just sort of fades out. No big goodbye, just the end of the footage.

It’s worth a look if you want to turn your brain off and just look at the edge of the world. Just don't expect it to change your life or anything. 🐧