Chasing Ice (Documentary)

Chasing Ice

I chose to watch Chasing Ice for my documentary because my solo song from last year is from this film.  I was intrigued to watch it because the song is sung by Scarlett Johansson, although she unfortunately has nothing else to do with the documentary (it is the credits song).  This documentary covers the journey of nature photographer, James Balog, and his Extreme Ice Survey that publicizes the effects of climate change from 2007-2012.  I was astounded by the extreme degree that the glaciers decreased in such a short amount of time.  Balog uses a series of videos and time lapses focused on the glaciers in Greenland, Iceland, and Alaska.  The documentary includes the time-lapse of the longest glacier calving event, which took place at Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland.  This process of deterioration lasted 75 minutes.  The long shots of the glaciers that Balog manages to capture are truly breathtaking.  Before watching this I always knew global warming was a rising issue, but I never felt a greater connection to it.  But know that I have seen glaciers shrink in size by thousands of feet in a matter of months, I feel more apt to so something to make change.  I was shocked by the climate conditions and terrestrial dangers Balog and his crew endured in order to capture these shots.  They had to camp on top of snow covered mountains in blistering temperatures, while trying to make sure all of their supplies and equipment were secure.  Sometimes after installing a camera, the men would return to the glacier a number of weeks later to check the progress only to find that the cameras became buried in snow or failed to survive the conditions.  I would recommend this documentary to anyone, whether they are initially interested in the topic or not.  8/10.