''Chasing Ice'' is a 2012

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

about the efforts of nature photographer

James Balog James Balog (pronounced ''BAY-log''; born July 15, 1952) sometimes referred to as Jim Balog, is an American photographer whose work explores the relationship between humans and nature. Since the early 1980s, Balog has photographed such subjects ...

and his

Extreme Ice Survey The Extreme Ice Survey (EIS), based in Boulder, Colorado, uses time-lapse photography, conventional photography and video to document the effects of global warming on glacial ice. It is the most wide-ranging glacier study ever conducted using gro ...

(EIS) to publicize the effects of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. The film was directed by Jeff Orlowski. It was released in the United States on November 16, 2012. The documentary includes scenes from a glacier calving event that took place at

Jakobshavn Glacier Jakobshavn Glacier ( da, Jakobshavn Isbræ), also known as Ilulissat Glacier ( kl, Sermeq Kujalleq), is a large outlet glacier in West Greenland. It is located near the Greenlandic town of Ilulissat (colonial name in da, Jakobshavn) and ends ...

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

, lasting 75 minutes, the longest such event ever captured on film. Two EIS videographers waited several weeks in a small tent overlooking the glacier and finally, were able to witness of ice crashing off the glacier. "The calving of a massive glacier believed to have produced the ice that sank the Titanic is like watching a city break apart."

Synopsis

Environmental photographer

heads to

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

and

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...

in order to capture images that will help to convey the

effects of global warming The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice (glaciers), sea lev ...

. Balog was initially skeptical about climate change when the issue entered scientific discussion, but after his first trip north, he becomes convinced of the impact that humans have on the planet and becomes committed to bringing the story to the public. Within months of the first trip to Iceland, Balog initiates The Extreme Ice Survey - an expedition to collect data on the seasonal changes of glaciers. Balog and his team deploy cameras that utilize

time-lapse photography Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus ...

across various places in the Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world's glaciers. The expedition starts off poorly as the team is plagued by numerous technical problems and camera malfunctions. Meanwhile, due to the extreme physical nature of the expeditions, Balog's personal health suffers in the form of knee complications. After making improvements to the equipment, Balog and his team are finally able to collect time-lapse photographs that depict the drastic erosion and disappearance of enormous, ancient glaciers.

Reception

, this film has a rating of 96% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, based on 72 reviews and an average score of 7.6/10. The website's critical consensus states, "''Chasing Ice'' captures the urgency of climate change while prevailing as entertainment, thanks othe awe-inspiring scenery and James Balog's charisma". It also has a score of 75 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The film won the

Satellite Award for Best Documentary Film The Satellite Award for Best Documentary Film is an annual award given by the International Press Academy. Winners and nominees 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Multiple wins *Asif Kapadia-2 (one tied with Joshua Oppenheimer) *Jeff Orlowski-2 See ...

Music

The film received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination for Best Original Song for the song "Before My Time," written by

J. Ralph Josh Ralph (born 1975), known professionally as J. Ralph, is an American composer, producer, singer/songwriter and social activist who focuses on creating awareness and change through music and film. A three-time Academy Award-nominated compos ...

and performed by

Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 list. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...

and

Joshua Bell Joshua David Bell (born December 9, 1967) is an American violinist and conductor. He plays the Gibson Stradivarius. Early life and education Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, to Shirley Bell, a therapist, and Alan P. Bell, a psychologi ...

References

External links

Official website
* * * {{Satellite Award Best Documentary Film 2012 documentary films 2012 films American documentary films Documentary films about global warming Documentary films about photographers Nature photography 2010s English-language films 2010s American films