Review: ‘Antarctica: Ice and Sky’: More like ‘March of the Glaciologist’

For French explorer, scientist and glaciologist Claude Lorius, his work studying drilled polar ice as a groundbreaking way to chart temperature history was a lifelong thrill ride of wonder and discovery.

So why is the documentary “Antarctica: Ice and Sky,” which profiles the now 84-year-old Lorius largely via archival film footage of his decades-old expeditions, such a slog to watch?

To borrow from that oft-reprised doo-wop hit: It ain’t the meat, it’s the motion. That is, the visuals and concepts presented here may be compelling and vital, but director Luc Jacquet (“March of the Penguins”) weaves them together with too little urgency, propulsion and, ultimately, unique sense of purpose.

Jacquet’s approach feels misguided in several ways. First, although we see crisply shot new footage of the latter-day Lorius pensively beholding the same remote Antarctic spots he traversed as a much younger man, he never speaks with Jacquet for what might have proved a remarkable, firsthand interview with one of the world’s most enduring climate scientists. The elderly Lorius is all crinkled eyes and wistful gazes; he could be anyone’s taciturn if hearty granddad out for a hike in the snow.

Second, the film’s extensive narration, matched to the enlarged and spiffed-up 8-millimeter and Super 8mm footage from Lorius’ many polar expeditions (his travels began in 1956), functions more like a series of meditative diary entries than a contextual history of Antarctic exploration.

That this commentary was written by Jacquet and spoken by French voice actor Michel Papineschi — seemingly as if composed and read by Lorius — feels somewhat ingenuous and, at times, overly dramatic. It only serves to distance us from the explorer.

As a result, we learn too little about the inner man beyond his obsessive devotion to these lengthy research missions (including one shared with the U.S. and Russia at the peak of the Cold War), his game attitude toward the grueling polar conditions and his increasing desire to prove climate change via ancient unearthed ice cores.

One wonders if there’s a darker, conflicted side to Lorius, one that may have informed both his professional and private lives. For example, the narration references his long absences from family and friends, but that simply produces more questions than it answers.

Input from others in the scientific, environmental and political fields as well as from Lorius’ fellow explorers and family members might have helped paint a deeper, more vivid picture of Lorius and his accomplishments. Brief clips of the adventurer’s TV news and talk-show appearances help but don’t really scratch the surface.

As a snapshot of the near-inhuman rigors of Antarctic exploration and further proof of the existence of global warming, the film, which closed the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, has its strengths. But as an involving, big-picture look at one of the world’s premiere glaciologists, it may leave some viewers feeling sluggish and a bit, well, cold.

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‘Antarctica: Ice and Sky’

In English and French with English subtitles

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 29 minutes

Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills

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