Short Documentaries - The Edge of the Earth

Dan O’Neill 2013-03-25 2 min read

One of those things I think we all wish we could do - travel to a super remote place and live for even just a couple of days. Eric Dennis and his brother Justin did exactly that. They decided to head up to Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, in Alaska.

Gates of the Arctic Mational Park

The park is not accessible by road - you have to travel there by foot or by Air Taxi. The Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve looks like an absolutely amazing place. Its enormous too about the same size as Taiwan, a country with 23 million people.

The brothers were following the Alatna River - essentially white water rafting through the Alaskan wilderness. The documentary is only about 20 minutes long and definitely worth a watch.

An amazing video for what seemed like an amazing journey.

The music used in the video is excellent. There’s five main songs used to soundtrack the documentary - “Intro” by The xx, “My Girls” by Animal Collective, “Sweet Disposition” by The Temper Trap, “The Road to Nothingness” by Solar Fields and “Boy With a Coin” by Iron & Wine.

The two songs that really stood out were “Intro” by the xx and “My Girls” by Animal Collective. Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap was getting serious air time when this came out but this was the first time I’d heard either of the first two bands. For at least a month after seeing this documentary, I don’t think either of these songs were not playing on my mp3 player, or at my desk.

Here’s the video for “My Girls” by Animal Collective. “Intro” from the xx as far as I’m aware, wasn’t released as a single - it’s the intro to their debut album - xx, though it is the xx’s most recognisable song. That album is great though so if you get a chance check it out. Here’s my favourite video from the album.

When I saw this amazing documentary 2 years ago I never thought I was going to come away with 2 new favourite bands.