It’s safe to say that few wedding videos are as unusual as the one in Anthony Powell’s documentary* about life on a research station in Antarctica. The filmmaker met his wife while working there, and their wedding included the bride’s father giving away his daughter via telephone to a man he barely* knew. It’s but one of the many fascinating moments in the film, which depicts* the grueling* and wonderful conditions faced by the workers.

    Filmed over the course of 10 years with cameras that can work in subzero temperatures, the documentary records the close-knit communities of scientists, technicians and other workers that live in about 30 bases on the continent. During the summers the population grows to 5,000 people, and then is reduced* to some 700 hardy souls who stay on during the winter months of darkness.

    While venturing* into the bleak* landscape, the filmmaker’s practical advice is to “never confuse* your pee bottle with your water bottle.”

    People interviewed tell about the brutal conditions, such as the near-weekly storms during the winters. While boredom* in not a problem — there’s far too much work to do — the lack of sunlight and fresh produce, among many other things, very much is. One worker feels so happy about someday eating an avocado* again, while another becomes angry over having to wait in a cafeteria* line after a group of new workers arrives. Unable to leave the station for months at a time, they describe their strong feelings of desolation* over having to miss the funeral of a parent or the birth of a nephew.

    Attention is naturally paid to the region’s animal residents, although the penguins are not as lovely as we’ve often pictured them. But at its best the film vividly shows a way of life that most of us, fortunately or not, will never get to experience.

    (SD-Agencies)