Peril and promise in the Great White North
The polar bear might occupy a place in our pop culture alongside soft drinks, but these creatures are powerful, majestic, and dangerous. The idea of swimming with one might sound amazing, crazy, or both, but that’s the task presented in Picture of His Life.
Wildlife photographer Amos Nachoum wants to get in the water with one of these massive creature and capture what he hopes will be an iconic shot. The catch is, he has attempted this before and almost lost his life.
Beyond the nature and art and adventure, Nachoum has quite a history himself. A native of Israel, he served his country in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. This experience shaped and devastated him, leading to an emigration to the United States. From there he became a world-famous adventure guide and eventually an even more famous photographer.
Taking pictures of the ocean’s largest creatures became a passion, with whales, sharks, and manta rays all becoming subjects for his magnificent images. It was a near-death run in with a polar bear that kept his list from being completed.
Now, in his 60’s, Nachoum is giving it one more shot with a journey to the Arctic. With Inuit guides and an unnerving sense of determination, he heads north. Directors Dani Menkin and Yonatan Nir capture the beauty and harsh conditions of even summertime that far north in exacting, brutal detail. Flies constantly swarm, accommodations are spare, and even a trip to the “bathroom” is filled with danger.
The combination of Nachoum’s life story with this epic adventure makes for compelling cinema. There’s more than one force of nature in this gorgeous documentary.
