Viewers will find many reasons to enjoy the documentary “180 Degrees South”: Mountain climbers, nautical types and environmentalists will all have something to get excited about.
But the movie’s true appeal lies not in a specific cause or hobby, but in something more basic its feeling of freedom. Ever since “The Endless Summer,” a certain kind of documentary has extolled the virtues of dropping out and hanging loose, and although “180 Degrees South” has some social-issue motives, it’s also a hymn to wanderlust.
The central wanderer is a guy named Jeff Johnson, who narrates the film in amiable surfer-dude fashion. Inspired by a six-month journey undertaken (and filmed) in 1968 by two environmentalist-businessmen, Johnson embarks on a trip with the same destination: the southernmost reaches of South America, and a tricky mountain called Corcovado.
The two businessmen are North Face founder Doug Tompkins and Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard.
When Johnson finally gets to Chile, he will meet and interview these two men, who remain adventurous types (Chouinard, who climbed the mountain in ‘68, decides to tag along for another go, and Tompkins is busy overseeing a giant project to preserve millions of acres of wilderness in Patagonia).
But first, Johnson will have to get to Patagonia — and you know what they say about the journey being more important than the destination.
Hitching a ride as crew aboard a sailboat, Johnson and his boatmates break a mast, which forces a weekslong detour to Easter Island, the nearest landfall. This turns out to be a great break for the movie, which gorges on the amazing scenery (and notes the environmental disaster previously played out by the natives of Easter Island, aka Rapa Nui).
Johnson surfs the waves and meets a woman who signs on for the rest of the trip. Patching the boat, the travelers head for Chile, and the film shifts into mountaineering mode as Corcovado beckons.
There aren’t a great many profundities along the way, although the movie has its heart in the right place. And the ecology lessons will likely fall on already-converted ears, given the probable audience for the picture.
But that doesn’t matter too much, because for 90 minutes you get to hitchhike on a footloose ride, over the waves and up the side of a mountain, but without the seasickness and the altitude issues. That makes this movie a pleasant piece of outdoorsy wish fulfillment.
“180 Degrees South”
An outdoorsy wanderer travels to Patagonia via sea and land, the better to meet up with the environmentally minded businessmen Yvan Chouinard and Doug Tompkins and climb a forbidding mountain peak. With its hang-loose attitude and great scenery, the movie’s a pleasant piece of wish fulfillment.
Rated: Not rated; probably PG-13 for language
Showing: Varsity
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