Chasing Ice

Chasing Ice is one of those “issue documentaries” that is structured around a charismatic character to convey its points, and for one of these docs, it's pretty good. James Balog is a photojournalist on a unique, multi-year project to shoot time-lapse images of glaciers melting at accelerated rates due to climate change. It is essentially a behind-the-scenes look at how the man came to take on this project and how he and his team got these impressive images, but while it's important work, it’s not much of a story, and Balog isn’t that interesting a character. When I see the inevitable clips of the subject giving his or her final presentation in these types of films, I often wish I was seeing the presentation, rather than the story behind the presentation.  But the photography in the Arctic is often breathtaking, and it is hard to argue with Balog’s conclusions, though I don’t think this film will change the minds of any climate skeptics even if they do go see it – which they won’t.