Outdoor Movie Review: 180 South

Jeff Johnson: The best journeys answer questions that in the beginning you didn't even think to ask.

Thank God for Netflix. Out here in small county, CO my only other options for movie rental are RedBox and On Demand cable (usually the same releases as RedBox). While the kiosk is great in an entertainment pinch, it’s usually stocked only with the newer releases and seem to hold a disproportionate number of horror films…ew. On Demand is a complete waste of money unless you’re completely desperate.

  I recently rented 180 South, an adventure documentary about trusting the journey. Free spirit Jeff Johnson found some old video footage filmed by Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia founder) and Doug Tompkins, the man who brought us North Face. The video was of a journey the two of them took in 1968, driving all the way to Argentina to climb rock and mountain.and find surfable waves wherever they could. Jeff’s journey has him retracing the steps of these outdoor gear pioneers 40 years later.

  If this film doesn’t make you want to quit your job, load up your own car and take off into the sunset, I’m not sure that anything could. Watching Jeff rebuild a sailboat of the coast of Easter Island, meeting locals and learning about environmental conservation in South America makes me want to A) expand my composting B) buy some goats and chickens C) heat my home with a wood stove and D) move all of it to Conservacion Patagonica, where I will ride with the gauchos in protest of new dam construction.

   In all seriousness, these men, Yvon and Doug, have become incredible champions for the protection of wild lands and indigenous peoples and their culture. Doug has helped to amass a staggering 460,000 acres in National Park land in Argentina.

  This movie is part eco-activism and part adventure filmmaking…and it works. In fact, I felt so inspired that I’ll just say, if you someday find that someday the blog just stops and I’m nowhere to be found, send the search party to look for a sailboat somewhere in the waters near Easter Island. Or I might have gone to climb the Andes. Or I could be with the gauchos.