ANTARCTICA
A film review by Shane R. Burridge
Copyright 1995 Shane R. Burridge
Japanese, 1983
I've always been skeptical about the exploitation of animals in Japanese films since THE ADVENTURES OF MILO AND OTIS, but this effort, at least, carries a disclaimer stating that none of the dogs used in the making of this film were mistreated. Which is a relief, considering what we see them go through. Story, which is largely speculative, recounts the survival of a dog team abandoned at a Japanese research base in Antarctica towards the end of 1957. Ken Takakura and Tsunehiko Watase play two scientists exploring the pole. When an expedition gets lost they turn to two of their most reliable dogs to help save their lives. It's an opening which impresses upon us the hostility of the continent, so we are not surprised when the research team abandons the base before the onset of the savage polar winter. It is while Takurara and Watase are on board the icebreaker waiting for them outside the Antarctic shelf that they--as do we--discover, to their horror, that it is impossible for them to retrieve the dog team from the base. Under protest, the two scientists are taken home, and most of the ensuing film juxtaposes their lives in Japan (they are disillusioned and feel shame) with the lives of the dogs as they struggle for survival.
Film has many sad moments--we see the resourceful dogs die one by one--but these are undermined a little by the uneasy mix of fact and conjecture. There are other lapses in judgment, such as a contrived scene involving an attacking whale, but most intrusive is the use of a narrator who anthropomorphizes the dogs and gives their scenes the kind of stagey atmosphere reminiscent of early Disney animal stories--it may be said however that this cutesifying of animals is not uncommon in Japanese entertainment. In any case, all of this is outweighed by the spectacular scenery (let's face it, Antarctica looks good in any film), especially some stunning shots of the team pulling their sled across the ice, and the dogs running wild in their frozen wonderland. If you have a dog, you'll probably want to run outside and play ball with it afterwards. Directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara, with a simple but effective score by Vangelis.
Shane Burridge shane@iplabs.ins.gu.edu.au
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