Beyond The Pole (2010)

We caught a screening of the hugely enjoyable Beyond The Pole recently, and while a full review will follow in the next week, we had a brief chat with the makers at London’s ICA, where it will be screening throughout February – check for dates and tickets here.

The tale of two thirty-something lifelong friends who decide to tackle climate change by becoming the first “carbon neutral, organic and vegetarian” team to get to the North Pole unsupported, it boasts a cast of charming comedy actors such as Stephen Mangan, Rhys Thomas, Rosie Cavaliero and Mark Benton, who bring the sharp script’s humour to life. David L. Williams‘ painfully astute mockumentary gently pokes fun at those trying to change the world one plastic bag at a time, so when we meet the director afterwards, it is surprising to find him so personally passionate about green issues. In fact, speaking to Williams and his partner Helen Baxendale, who produces and guest stars in Beyond The Pole, it’s this very concern that drove them to make the film.

“When he had children, I started reading James Lovelock’s books, like Gaia, which scare the wits out of you,” Williams recalls. “Then I remember seeing An Inconvenient Truth, and thinking the only people who will watch this… are people like us. It’s not a new audience. We have a little film club, where we introduce our friends to different films, like Borat [laughs], but no one wanted to watch topical films. We work in comedy anyway, so we thought let’s try and make a film that reached a new audience.”

Baxendale explains their intentions: “Even though it’s a comedy about global warming, hopefully at the end we’ve managed to pull it round to actually say it’s up to everybody now.” Remarking that I liked the fact that they weren’t afraid to ridicule those who get angry about green issues, the actress responded: “We like to be green in our lives, despite living in Richmond, which is like car-emitter capital. I just think it’s quite fun sometimes to do something and everyone think you’re completely mad, so that’s where the idea comes from… Like the scene saying no to plastic bags in the supermarket – I used to do that! Just having this anger at everybody else!” Williams added: “If you have a point of view, and you just say, this is my point of view, people aren’t really interested. But if you send yourself up, you draw them in. We tried to make this an action adventure, but also humorous.”

Even though the film’s characters carry out their expedition carbon neutrally, Williams pointed out that the very process of filmmaking isn’t that green: “You can’t be carbon neutral. I wanted to shoot it, just me and two actors. Very quickly, film has this habit of growing. We tried to do what we could, but I don’t necessarily believe in off-setting. Film is inherently not green, and nor is distribution. To get the word out is really tough.” Baxendale chirps up that Williams tried to do good by not flying to a recent screening: “You went to the Warsaw film festival by train. Three days, and he missed his stop and went on to Belarus!” “I left London in sunshine and arrived in snow, and only had t-shirts. It was every cliche you could imagine,” he laughs.

Finally in the brief chat, we had to ask about the memorable cameo from Alexander Skarsård, currently red hot, thanks to his scene-stealing role in True Blood. He plays one half of a gay Norwegian couple on the same expedition, who, to our brave adventurers’ horror, are also unsupported, vegetarian, organic and carbon neutral. The encounter is a pivotal moment in the film, bringing the biggest laughs and setting up the resulting drama. The Swede, son of actor Stellan, wasn’t actually first choice for the role, as Williams explains: “It was hilarious. We’d actually cast another actor – I won’t tell you who it was, but a really great Scandinavian actor. When we got the money through, it came through very fast and totally wrong-footed us. I was telling everybody that the location melts in about two months, so we have to have the money now! This Scandinavian actor suddenly got wrong-footed by the dates. So were were scratching our heads trying to think of every Scandinavian we’d ever heard of, so we googled, and up came Alexander Skarsgard, famous for his family, and because he’d been voted five times sexiest man in Sweden. I thought, we’ll have him, because we’ll sell to Sweden! And then I remembered him in Zoolander. I think he’s just brilliant.”

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Review: Beyond The Pole

Shooting Pictures, in cinemas 12th February 2010

“Don’t be impotent, be important”, so say lifelong friends Mark and Brian, who set out to become the first cabon neutral, vegetarian and organic unsupported team to reach the North Pole. Why? To save the planet from global warming (Mark) and get into the Guinness Book of World Records (Brian).

Shot mockumentary style by comedy director David L. Williams, this extremely likeable adventure crosses Peep Show-style banter with a huge, planet-hugging heart. Williams very cleverly knows the best way to win people over is to send yourself up, so our earnest environmentalist Mark (Stephen Mangan, Green Wing) is introduced to us taking on a 4×4 with his bicycle – “it’s like Tiananmen Square”. Meanwhile, the puppy-like Brian (Rhys Thomas, The Fast Show) is just happy to go for the laugh, and potential glory, oblivious to the worries of his devoted girlfriend Sandra (Rosie Cavaliero).

It’s all being filmed for posterity by Becky (Helen Baxendale, who executive produces), so we get to see how woefully and comically underprepared they are. But despite everyone’s reservations, the pair, plus a trigger-happy cameraman, get on their way, communicating regularly with Mark’s “second best mate” Graham (Mark Benton) in his high-tech caravan HQ.

The humour starts off wry and satirical, before some golden moments on the ice with True Blood star Alexander Skarsgard’s cameo as one half of a Norwegian couple on the same mission. A hysterical encounter with a biscuit sets off a madness in Mark, as he and Brian are understandably struggling to cope with their trek. Brian is distracted by the knowledge he is a father-to-be with Sandra, who has several touching and funny moments back in England. However, Mark has lost his wife and home and has nothing to lose. It’s at this point things take a more sober tone, and the shift in the storytelling method feels like an unwelcome jolt. By the time you are genuinely moved at the end, you would’ve forgotten you started watching a comedy. Neither as funny nor profound as it would probably like to be, Beyond The Pole is still to be enjoyed as a fun adventure with two endearingly heroic, if shambolic, leads.

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