Movie Review: Life in the Freezer

Life in the Freezer is the fifth film in David Attenborough's Life series that we've watched.[1] It documents the life cycles of many of the creatures that inhabit Antarctica and its surrounding waters, the Southern Sea. The filmmakers went to great lengths to capture some of their footage, including braving heaving waves that were 60 feet high and diving into undersea tunnels in the ice, following Weddell Seals. Though the majority of the series was spent observing penguins, seals, whales, skuas, petrels, isopods, ribbon worms, krill, etc., the last episode of the series focused on human exploration of the Antarctic continent.[2]

My verdict: Some of the photography was simply spectacular. They captured beautiful images of colossal icebergs in the ocean and rugged icescapes on the continent. Many of the creatures that they filmed were interesting and I appreciated that they included an episode with a human element.  There were also some interviews with the filmmakers at the end that were interesting. A word to parents or those who are sensitive to violence: there are a few harrowing scenes, such as a leopard seal killing and tearing apart a baby penguin. If that sort of thing bothers you or your children, you may wish to skip this film.

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Notes:

[1] We've also watched Life of Birds, Life of Mammals, Life in the Undergrowth (which is about invertebrates), and Life in Cold Blood (which is about reptiles and amphibians). For a review of Life in Cold Blood, see here.

[2] I was astonished that the cabin at Cape Evans which was used by Captain Scott on his ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition was still intact and in such good condition. I expected everything to be completely grown over with rime, but it looks exactly as it did 100 years ago. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott's Hut and this photograph.

Image attributions:

Antarctic iceberg is by Christian Revival Network, available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/christianrevivalnetwork/2724887150/.