Werner Herzog continued…“What I Learned”:

Part 3

OK, here comes the fun part! 

Herzog shows footage from his oscar nominated Encounters at the End of the World. I feel a total disconnect between up and down. Had the explorers not been wearing wetsuits and flippers, had I not watched the bubbles of air float up, I would swear that we were looking back at earth from the moon. Are we on top of the world looking down or reveling in an enchanted abyss? Once you have oriented you realize that indeed these aquatic astronauts have entered this underworld via a 30 foot shaft drilled into the Ross Ice Shelf, Anatartica. 

Back on dry ground or high ground, Herzog talks about man’s ability to fly and freedom. A collective dream if ever there was one. He shows clips form his “The Great Ecstasy of Sculptor Steiner” (1975) the hypnotic study of Swiss ski-jumping champion Walter Steiner. Now granted Steiner never wore a parachute…

But we’ve come a long way baby!!! These guys below give a whole new meaning to human flight. Damn. They figured out they can loose the skis altogether…jump off Norwegian peaks and spread their squirrel suits. Cowabunga!