"180° South: Conquerors of the Useless" (2010) - An adventure film (on Netflix & Amazon) and book that follows the travels of surfer and mountain-adventurer Jeff Johnson. He has been writing and photographing for several decades, with features in The Wall Street Journal, The Surfer’s Journal, Outside Magazine, and many more.
This particular film follows Johnson as he seeks to retrace the steps of his heroes, Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins (founders of Patagonia and The North Face, respectively), down to Patagonia, Chile. Johnson’s goal for the journey is to surf along the Pacific Coastline of the Americas, culminating his feat with a unique ascent of Corcovado -- a remote Patagonian peak that Chouinard and Tompkins climbed to end their own trip in 1968. His adventure begins in Ventura, California, as did that of his predecessors. In Baja, Mexico, Johnson meets a Chilean man who is sailing his boat back home to Patagonia. After agreeing to help out in exchange for a ride, Johnson and the crew embark on their journey down the Pacific Coast of North and South America. After a stop in the Galapagos, the team faces a huge setback that forces them to drift to Rapa Nui (Easter Island), where they remain for a few months as they fix the boat. Here, Johnson meets a local woman named Makohe who pioneered women’s surfing on the remote island and whom he invites on the trip. With scarce resources on the island, they rely on ancient blueprints to fix the boat, and they eventually re-embark on their journey. Upon arriving in Patagonia, Johnson and Makohe rendezvous with Chouinard and Tompkins to climb Corcovado and exchange stories.
In one word, this film is absorbing. It recounts an ambitious 1968 road trip that changed two friends’ lives forever while putting a modern spin on their adventure. With stunning landscapes, a tranquil and acoustic soundtrack, and narration in the form of excerpts from Johnson’s travel journal, this documentary does an exceptional job of infusing passion for adventure in every viewer’s mind. However, the film is much more than just a journey with a good storyline and pretty views. Thompson gives it a deeply thoughtful twist by adding focus to the environmental issues that surround Patagonia, and the world as a whole. In Rapa Nui, Thompson briefly details how the people’s overconsumption of the island’s resources greatly diminished the population. He later refers to this when discussing society’s current consumer-driven exploitation of natural resources, which he witnesses firsthand in the sprawling metropolis of Santiago. Yet, it is not necessarily the consumption in places like Santiago that is the problem, he notes. Rather, overconsumption elsewhere is driving the exploitation of natural sanctuaries around the world, with Patagonia being no exception. Further exploring this issue, Thompson speaks with several locals about the government’s plan to build six hydroelectric dams in Patagonia, and he covers a ride on the capital by an activist, anti-dam group called Sin Represas (http://www.sinrepresas.com/). This discussion is carried further by conversation with Tompkins, who, using his vast wealth from The North Face, purchased several thousand square miles in Patagonia for conservation purposes.
This is a truly masterful motion picture full of exploration and thought-provoking dialogue on critical environmental issues. You go into it for the adventure and you come out inspired to make a change.
