If you are this close to chucking it all in, packing your bags and going vagabond, by all means do not see “180 Degrees South.”
Director Chris Malloy’s eco-tourist documentary could stoke your wanderlust to the point of no return.
The film tracks roustabout Jeff Johnson, whose commonplace name belies an explorer’s soul. Inspired by a legendary 1968 transcontinental road trip by Yvon Chouinard (a self-described “dirtbag” who launched Patagonia activewear) and his climbing partner Doug Tompkins (founder of Esprit and North Face) Johnson follows his idols’ route from California to the southern tip of Chile, sailing down the western coast of South America.
Johnson suffers epic seasickness and gets shipwrecked off Easter Island. He hooks up with a righteous surfer lady on the island, and she shares the rest of his journey, which is sweet.
The film’s a meandering affair. The camera’s attention flits here and there — Look! A mountain! Look! A valley! Look! A beach!
When Johnson meets his heroes in the vast Patagonia wildlife preserve that Tompkins founded in 1991, the aimless travelogue brightens. Chouinard is a marvelous, peppery coot who fully expects the world to go to hell. Tompkins pontificates about social responsibility, and they spar amusingly, like an ecological Odd Couple.
The film was produced by a Patagonia executive, and pro surfer Keith Malloy is a onetime Patagonia employee. It says everything you would expect about heedless developers despoiling the land, lambasting hydroelectric development, but neglects to mention that Tompkins’ preserve runs on hydro power. And it reaches an unusual conclusion.
By the fade-out, it looks as if the romantic eco-protesters aren’t nearly as effective in safeguarding the land as rich old capitalists who can buy up huge tracts and fence out the polluters.
“180 South.” Unrated. 1 hour, 25 minutes. Directed by Chris Malloy. Inspired by a 1968 road trip by Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins from California to the southern tip of Chile. Opens today at the Mayan.
