Chasing Ice (2012)

96% of critics liked it
(68 reviews)
83% of users liked it
(5,486 ratings)

Acclaimed National Geographic photographer James Balog was once a skeptic about climate change. But through his Extreme Ice Survey, he discovers undeniable evidence of our changing planet. In Chasing Ice, Balog deploys revolutionary time-lapse cameras to capture a multi-year record of the… More Acclaimed National Geographic photographer James Balog was once a skeptic about climate change. But through his Extreme Ice Survey, he discovers undeniable evidence of our changing planet. In Chasing Ice, Balog deploys revolutionary time-lapse cameras to capture a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers. His hauntingly beautiful videos compress years into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion as they disappear at a breathtaking rate. Traveling with a team of young adventurers across the brutal Arctic, Balog risks his career and his well-being in pursuit of the biggest story facing humanity. As the debate polarizes America, and the intensity of natural disasters ramps up globally, Chasing Ice depicts a heroic photojournalist on a mission to deliver fragile hope to our carbon-powered planet. -- (C) Submarine

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Directed By: Jeff Orlowski
Written By: Mark Monroe
Genres: Documentary, Special Interest

In Theaters: Nov 9, 2012 Limited
On DVD: Sep 10, 2013
Studio: National Geographic

Critic Reviews

Trevor Johnston, Time Out
Still an eco-sceptic? Clap your eyes on this lot. Awe-inspiring, terrifying, transcendently beautiful, and absolutely weighted with significance for the future of the planet.
Tom Long, Detroit News
The most important documentary of the year.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Chasing Ice" is a grand adventure, a visual amazement and a powerful warning.
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
If you're looking for eye-popping evidence that the world's glaciers are melting, don't miss the small-scale but spectacular documentary, Chasing Ice.
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
The rapid disappearance of ice mountains, filmed over a period of years, is compressed through time-lapse technology into minutes and seconds. The speeded-up effect is harrowing and also, disturbingly, eerily beautiful.
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle
The movie might have given us a bit less of Balog and a bit more of the startling sequences he produced.
Stephen Carty, Flix Capacitor
On one hand, it's humbling to watch as a glacier the size of five football fields slumps into the ocean like a defeated whale, while on the other it's eye-opening to think about how cataclysmic the effects could be in years to come.
Margot Harrison, Seven Days
As a documentary, it offers most of its likely viewers grim confirmation of what they already know, rather than the thrill of discovery.
Simon Foster, sbs.com.au
Less a didactic 'message-movie' than a study of one man's steely determination, the debut helmer directs with a sure hand and no-frills aesthetic.
Emily Ashby, Common Sense Media
Beautiful, affecting documentary about glacier retreat.
Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
If seeing equals believing, then this film's documentation ought to sway the world. But daredevil heroes and sexy screen goddesses probably help the medicine go down.
Lindsey Cherner, Austin American-Statesman
While visually and emotionally stunning, "Chasing Ice" raises almost as many questions as it answers.
Graham Young, Birmingham Mail
Chasing Ice will open your eyes to a world you've never seen before and it will make you think. But whether any of us can change anything is a different matter altogether.
Roger Moore, McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Global Warming? "Seeing is believing."
Duane Dudek, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
While skeptics continue to doubt global warming is a man-made phenomenon - Rush Limbaugh called warnings about it "garbage science" - "Chasing Ice" leaves little doubt it is occurring.
Gail Tolley, The List
It's an absorbing and vital watch.
Philip French, Observer [UK]
It's like watching our world disappear.
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher
A few scientists pop their heads in here, a few charts are deployed, but Chasing Ice is powered primarily by the imagery, stark, irrefutable evidence that the planet is warming, not in one or two isolated places but everywhere.
Rob Thomas, Capital Times (Madison, WI)
"Chasing Ice" is a beautiful film to watch, especially on the big screen. But the documentary's visual pleasures come with a heavy dose of guilt.
David Parkinson, Radio Times
It's sobering stuff but the film's impact is somewhat diminished by Orlowski's reverential profile of Balog, who continues to crusade despite the toll his endeavours have taken on his body.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Jim H

Photographer James Balog sets up cameras to document the disappearance of glaciers. Most documentaries about global warming and other such social problems take an alarmist stance and quickly become so over-bearing in their message that I find myself saying, "Yes, yes, we're… More
Photographer James Balog sets up cameras to document the disappearance of glaciers. Most documentaries about global warming and other such social problems take an alarmist stance and quickly become so over-bearing in their message that I find myself saying, "Yes, yes, we're all going to die. I understand. Ho hum." But the film's focus on the process of setting up the cameras and Balog's courageousness makes it more about the process than pounding depressing evidence into my head. Balog's photographs are striking. They're beautifully tragic, just as they are intended to be. Overall, this is a good documentary about an important social problem, and its strength is that it doesn't try to beat the shit out of any happiness you might still be able to muster.
Luke E

We are all concerned about the earth's poles in this day and era. "Chasing Ice" Documents James Balog an acclaimed Natianal Geographic photographer's journey to find some physical evidence about Climate Change. Setiing up mutiple cameras in a single area in… More
We are all concerned about the earth's poles in this day and era. "Chasing Ice" Documents James Balog an acclaimed Natianal Geographic photographer's journey to find some physical evidence about Climate Change. Setiing up mutiple cameras in a single area in Iceland, Greenland, Montanna and Alaska. The results are pretty shocking, after three years of observing the photos we find a big difference in the stucture of some of the biggest glaciers in the world. I've never seen so many massive calvings of ice that it almost looks like a whole city area is going up in an earthquake. Viewers really do feel the emotion and determination for Balog who has a knee problem, but that dosen't stop him from explroring the dangerous impact the ice world has suffered to climate change. Conventionally shot in a very informative manner, "Chasing Ice" is essential for all enviromentalists and common viewers.
Christopher H

"Chasing Ice" is as visually stunning as it is socially enlightening. James Balog, an acclaimed photography, brings the best of both worlds into a documentary that highlights the indisputable facts about global warming, through the photographic proof of several glaciers,… More
"Chasing Ice" is as visually stunning as it is socially enlightening. James Balog, an acclaimed photography, brings the best of both worlds into a documentary that highlights the indisputable facts about global warming, through the photographic proof of several glaciers, which have been around for thousands and thousands of years, that are melting and breaking off into the oceans at an alarming rate. The documentary not only takes you on an adventure as Balog attempts to plant over a dozen different cameras out in the Arctic elements to capture the photos, but it inspires social change with the immense cataclysmic change that our earth is undergoing at a rapid pace. Overwhelmed from most of the imagery, I had a strong connection with this film and could have looked at Balog's photography for much longer. One of the best documentaries of the year and of recent memory, also gaining an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song which surprising was performed by actress Scarlett Johansson.

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Cast

James Balog
as James
Svavar Jonatansson
as Svavar Jonatansson
Adam LeWinter
as Adam LeWinter
Jeff Orlowski
as Jeff Orlowski
Tad Pfeffer
as Tad Pfeffer
Jason Box
as Jason Box
Louie Psihoyos
as Louie Psihoyos
Kitty Boone
as Kitty Boone
Sylvia Earle
as Sylvia Earle
Dennis Dimick
as Dennis Dimick
Suzanne Balog
as Suzanne Balog
Synte Peacock
as Synte Peacock
Thomas Swetnam
as Thomas Swetnam
Terry Root
as Terry Root
Peter Hoeppe
as Peter Hoeppe
Gerald Meehl
as Gerald Meehl
Emily Balog
as Emily Balog
Martin Nørregaard
as Martin Nørregaard
Simone Balog
as Simone Balog
James Woolsey
as James Woolsey
Martin Sharp
as Martin Sharp

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Chasing Ice (2012)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Jim H

Luke E

Christopher H

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