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Film Review: The Last Glacier

Director: Elena Marsh   Running time: 98 minutes   Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)

The Last Glacier is a beautifully made documentary that manages to be both a visual masterpiece and an urgent call to action. Over the course of ninety-eight minutes, director Elena Marsh follows a team of scientists as they study a single, shrinking glacier high in the mountains. What could have been a dry, academic film is instead deeply human and, at times, genuinely moving.

The film’s greatest strength is undoubtedly its photography. The images of ice, mountains and sky are breathtaking, and the cinematography alone makes the film worth watching on the largest screen you can find. Marsh wisely allows these landscapes to speak for themselves, resisting the temptation to fill every moment with narration or dramatic music.

If the film has a weakness, it is that the middle section feels a little slow. Some viewers may find that the long, quiet sequences test their patience, and a few of the scientific explanations are perhaps more detailed than the average viewer needs. However, these are minor complaints. The final twenty minutes are powerful and thought-provoking, leaving the audience with a genuine sense of what may be lost if we fail to act.

Overall, The Last Glacier is an impressive achievement. It is not a comfortable watch, nor is it meant to be, but it is an important and unexpectedly beautiful one. Highly recommended – just be prepared to leave the cinema with a great deal to think about.