Antarctica: Ice and Sky

Filmmaker Luc Jacquet (March of the Penguins) takes viewers to the Antarctic for this portrait of French explorer Claude Lorius, whose six-decade exploration of polar glaciers, conducted over 20-plus expeditions, is credited with first demonstrating that climate change must be attributed to human activity. Combining English narration in the “voice” of Lorius (actually Michel Papineschi) with new and archival footage, the film recalls how a 23-year-old Lorius jumped at the opportunity to join a research team bound for Antarctica, subsequently spending a year in an underground chamber from which he mapped the land beneath the ice. Over the years, Lorius began to study snow crystals, which led to drilling into the ice and discovering that core layers revealed historical temperatures, which proved that while cycles of warm and cold eras occurred predictably until about a century ago, the rate of warming over the last hundred years markedly departed from the pattern and must therefore be ascribed to increased activity on the part of humankind. By allowing Lorius to recount his long polar adventure, Jacquet not only celebrates the man's contribution to the scientific understanding of the climatic realities that threaten the future of the planet but also captures his enthusiastic devotion to his life's work. Extras include a “making-of” featurette, a film festival Q&A with Jacquet, and a stills gallery. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)