Encounters at the End of the World

McMurdo Station, headquarters of the National Science Foundation and the base for U.S. research at the South Pole, sits at the bottom of the Earth and is populated by about 1,000 scientists, loners, dreamers, and outcasts for a brief five-month period each year--the only time the Pole is remotely hospitable to research. Director Herzog doesn't lead, but lets McMurdo's unique residents tell their own stories about the stark and dramatic landscape that draws them to leave the rest of the world behind. Herzog gives us stunning images of the otherworldly, subzero terrain, including underwater cathedrals and glacial mountains. Although scientific evidence being gathered at McMurdo points to global warming, Herzog isn't filming to smack you over the head with it; rather, he's exploring the explorers. Absolutely unmissable.