The documentary is, of course, cynical, adventurous and witty, as any Herzog film is bound to be. Indeed, it is rather too cynical. The South Pole being among the places most effected by global warming with the glaciers melting away, Herzog makes his own comment on the environmental crises. Instead of offering hope that we as humans possess the capacity to conquer global warming, Herzog says we’re all doomed like the dinosaurs. Probably true, but nonetheless quite unpleasant.

Adventurous it certainly is, but one can see the director was rather disappointed by the barren McMurdo. There is also an apparent tone of regret that the earth’s mysteries have been discovered, and adventure is dying out even in the South Pole. But not all the fun has been lost in Antarctica, particularly for scientists. New aquatic species are still being found every day beneath the ice.

But Herzog is more interested in the human being. What is that possesses these people to give up their lives of normality for the harsh Antarctic? The answer to Herzog’s question comes, ironically, from penguins – the very creature he intended to avoid. In an interview with a biologist studying the habits of the creature, we are told about certain “insane” penguins which break off from their peers, travelling great distances on their own, only to meet inevitable death. Perhaps the people living in Antarctica, thousands of miles from civilisation, are similar to these deranged seabirds.