Everyday Activist - Chasing Ice

Posted on Monday, June 15, 2015 at 04:00 PM

Review: Chasing Ice

Movie Review by Everyday Activist X CalgaryMovies.com

On June 18th, 2015, the Esker Foundation will show Chasing Ice. If the name sounds familiar you may have seen this documentary on National Geographic Channel in April 2013 or at Calgary International Film Festival when it screened as a Green Carpet event. Shortly after that the Plaza Theatre had it in theatres (that’s where I saw it), and the Marda Loop Justice Film Festival screened it as did Green Sanctuary at the Unitary Church near Center Street. If you missed all the public events and can’t make Thursday’s screening, it was (and may still be) on Netflix.

Overall I thought the film was well done, definitely worth another watch if you haven’t seen it recently, especially on the big screen. Many other people share my thoughts. The Sundance Film Festival awarded it Excellence in Cinematography in 2012. In 2014, it won an Emmy for Outstanding Nature Programming and in 2013 it was short listed for an Oscar. Even if you don’t believe in climate change, the film’s beauty will make you think twice.

The movie is a project of James Balog, who documents climate change in the Arctic through his Extreme Ice Surveys. While he has degrees in science, he’s most known for his photography. This fact makes me feel better about the film. All this time I was under the impression he was a scientist first, adventurer second. Why the distinction? Well in the film, he develops these cameras that are CRITICAL to capturing the data he needs in extreme Artic environments. Mounting the cameras in the right spot is a huge undertaking and should anything happen, he loses a year. With those kinds of high stakes, wouldn’t you test your equipment on an easy to access glacier before sending it out into the wild world? As a scientist by training, you test things first in the environment they are meant to be used. THEN use them in the actual setting. Yeah, I wanted to yell at the screen when I saw that.

Interestingly enough, though as the film progresses we find out he has bad knee problems that eventually require surgery. This is important because knees represent an imbalance in willpower. In James Balog’s case it’s too much willpower to get things done. Had he backed off a bit and took time to carefully assess his project before launching, rather than push through with experimental equipment, he would have saved himself surgery and had a year’s worth of extra data. With his health concerns, we learn a bit about his family and the delicate balance adventurers strike between life at home and life in challenging environments.

The movie documents how the arctic is changing and what it means for people. Given I’m writing this review while in Whitehorse, YK, the issue of climate seems a bit more real. If you want to check the film out, you can get tickets for the Thursday, June 18th, 2015 showing on Eventbrite. I have my ticket, so I hope to see you there.

Calgary Local Scene Event: Esker: Chasing Ice >