At the Edge of the World

This riveting documentary must be seen to be believed. Somewhere AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, in the grandeur of the Ross Sea near Antarctica, there's a team of intrepid environmentalists on ships belonging to the Sea Shepherd conservancy group. These young men and women spend months chasing down illegal (often Japanese) whale hunting ships camouflaged as research vessels; once they've found one, they risk their lives to stop it by any means possible. This includes launching stink bombs, fouling up the enemy ship's propeller with frayed ropes, and sometimes even ramming the ship broadside. Sea Shepherd is a “marine wildlife conservation interventionist organization,” the brainchild of controversial Canadian captain Paul Watson, shown here calmly commanding his younger crew through icy wind-swept waters. Watson was a Greenpeace pioneer who left that group since he favored more forceful intervention. Filmmaker Dan Stone and crew accompany the dedicated mariners through alternating periods of excited anticipation and battles with seasickness, until a confrontation with Japanese whalers nearly ends in death. Dan points out, “Sean Connery knows he'll still be alive when the film is finished. The crew in this film are not so sure.” – BB