Synopsis
When National Geographic photographer James Balog asked, “How can one take a picture of climate change?” his attention was immediately drawn to ice. Soon he was asked to do a cover story on glaciers that became the most popular and well-read piece in the magazine during the last five years. But for Balog, that story marked the beginning of a much larger and longer-term project that would reach epic proportions.
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Cast
- James BalogHimself - Photographer
- Svavar JonatanssonHimself - Photo Assistant
- Adam LeWinterHimself - EIS Engineer (as Adam Lewinter)
- Louie PsihoyosHimself - Photographer & Oscar Winning Filmmaker
- Kitty BooneHerself - The Aspen Institute
- Sylvia EarleHerself - National Geographic Explorer (as Sylvia Earle Ph.D.)
- Dennis DimickHimself - National Geographic Editor
- Jason BoxHimself - Climatologist, Ohio State University (as Jason Box Ph.D.)
- Tad PfefferHimself - Glaciologist, University of Colorado (as Tad Pfeffer Ph.D.)
- Suzanne BalogHerself - James's Wife
Recommendations
- 100
New York Daily News
This amazingly beautiful, and amazingly frightening, documentary captures the immediacy of what climate change is doing to the Arctic landscape. - 90
The New York Times
The film doesn't just serve up Mr. Balog's amazing and undeniably convincing imagery. It also records his personal struggles as knee problems threaten his ability to hike the difficult terrain to get the shots he wants. - 85
NPR
In Hollywood these days, such epic transformations are rendered with computers and called "morphing." Offering a lesson both to filmmakers and climate-change deniers, Chasing Ice demonstrates how much more powerful it is to capture the real thing. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
Heart-stopping in its coverage of the brave and risky attempt by a scientist named James Balog and his team of researchers on the Extreme Ice Survey, where "extreme" refers to their efforts almost more than to the ice. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
A documentary so stuffed with eye-soothing images one prays it can seduce a climate-change skeptic or two. - 70
Variety
Following the exhaustive efforts of photographer-scientist James Balog to capture irrefutable evidence of the world's glaciers in retreat, first-time helmer Jeff Orlowski's documentary supplies a heroic human-interest angle on global warming that's ultimately less remarkable than the grandeur of its arctic imagery. - 70
Village Voice
Still and live-action footage captures the ice sliding into the sea with exquisite grace, which makes it all the more wrenching. Are such images enough to convince the naysayers that something unnatural is occurring? Doubtful. - 67
The A.V. Club
As someone who admits to having harbored skepticism about climate change himself, two decades ago, Balog is trying to present an image-based response to all the denialists featured in the news montages scattered through the film, people who scoff at the numbers and lack of scientific consensus on whether global warming exists, and what it entails.
