“Stunning CGI visuals present a lush, exciting prehistoric otherworld against the backdrop of a contemporary scientific expedition”
Released during the Covid 19 Pandemic in 2020, David Clark’s Dinosaurs of Antarctica is a 40 minute documentary exploring giants of the prehistoric age and what their lives can tell us about living under extreme environmental conditions. Part cautionary tale, part wondrous exploration into the annals of the Permian age, it is a testament to our own endeavour to understand what came before us in a spectacularly presented way.
Sweeping musical scores and impressively lush visuals depicting the dense forests of dinosaurs such as the cryolophosaurus and other intriguing creatures of the land, sea and air all combine with flair on a magnificent scale. The final element is the use of 3D to really add an immersive depth of field, multi layered sensory experience that reminds you just how impressive the animals are. Clever use of this filming technique really does make you feel like you could reach out and touch the and an educational narration weaves the footage along so we understand what we are looking at, almost as though it is a truly realistic nature documentary- you forget this footage is CGI- and the line between real footage and digital is truly blurred to great effect.
Woven in between the lush scenery we learn about the paleontologists exploring Antarctica, the land these animals were once from, when it was known as Gondwana. As the continents shifted from the supercontinent of Pangea, Gondwana’s separation and separately formed climate enabled its inhabitants to thrive in much harsher environment. We follow a group of American scientists on their expedition to Antarctica as they seek to understand the landscape’s geology and the clues it has left behind, so that we may understand how our own extreme climate change can be combated.
A small but mighty documentary at the BRI IMAX is paired with a brief Q+A panel afterwards with Dr Cassisus Morrison, a paleontologist based in London. The majority of questions asked of him were from shy, small children, so the responses were not necessarily academically insightful, although an interesting point was made when asked about how we discovered the crater of the asteroid that killed off the animals leading to the end of the cretaceous period some 66 million years ago. Dr Morrison noted that the Yucatán Peninsula location, where the crater was found, was only brought to light as geophysicists were looking for oil. In a strange sense of irony, the hunt for fossil fuel led us to an incredible scientific discovery.
Whilst this shorter feature film would have benefitted from more dinosaur footage (almost every scenario in life could benefit from more dinosaurs to be fair), the production does end on a positive if slightly saccharine note about the human endeavour to understand our past so that we may better define our future as we tackle the sociopolitical and environmental climate fractures we face. As the species who caused the problems, so too must we be the creator of its solution. This is an excellently timed revisit to an immersive cinematic experience for all ages full of roar-some footage.
Dinosaurs of Antarctica was a one of screening as part of the BFI’s London Climate Action Week and Close Encounters With Spielberg season.