Journey to the Edge of the World

Now I am writing about another Christmas present I was given this year but instead of a book it will be a DVD this time. The DVD I got was Billy Connolly Journey to the Edge of the World which was on television just over a year ago I think but am not sure about that one. This documentary took place over a period of 10 weeks as Billy travels on a once in a lifetime journey through the North West Passage, a legendary route deep within the arctic circle that had perilously thwarted explorers for centuries.

What the program does is show people what life on the Passage is really like, the weather conditions, the work, lifestyles, the people and just how much has changed over the last 50 - 70 years and it really is quite extraordinary to see just how much has. The first few placed he visits first are more city populated where he learns to fish and see the gravestone at the Titanic crew and passenger burial site of a J. Dawson, with a very funny scene where all of these Japanese teenage girls are all taking their photographs next to it thinking it is Jack Dawson from the film but is really a Joseph Dawson who now has a case of mistaken identity. Other places he visits are a scarecrow museum where he sees even a scarecrow version of himself and meets quite possibly the craziest but funniest old man alive.

The next step of his journey is through the towns and villages of the Inuit people and how much their way of life has changed the most, how they basically live in little shanty towns trying to adapt to modern day life but still keep their old traditions alive so that they can keep going for many years to come, and it is here that Billy experiences a very emotional story when he is in the local museum and watches a film from over 50 years ago of what live in the area used to be like and saw that back then all the people were smiling, but not any more, and found it even more emotional when he discovered that the old man who was sitting next to him watching it had family shown in the film and went in there every day to watch it just to remember what life used to be like and how he will never live it again.

The show then goes further up the passage following old explorers trails and we discover just how many had failed an never returned due to the river and sea freezing up with ice forcing them to abandon their ships and eat themselves to death due to lead poisoning from the tins for their food and eventually reverting to cannibalism. Eventually Billy travels to the old gold mines and sees old ghost towns where the gold was eventually drained and the people moved on but learnt how to mine for gold from one surviving miner who family have kept it going over the years.

Towards the end of his journey we see him being initiated into a tribe by sharing a steam with others to earn their right of something which I have sadly already forgotten and then meet a 75 year old women who looks strangely crazy walking about with her massive riffle living on her own in the middle of nowhere before reaching the his last destination ending his truly amazing experience.

This entire program was as you could see very emotional for him and seeing the wonderful landscape and seeing what like really is like in these areas does make the person watching it respect and be thankful for what they have. What I liked about it was that Billy Connolly was speaking to you as though you were really standing beside him, just with the way he would talk to the camera and tell his jokes making you laugh with him. What I found really funny was that he carried with him throughout the entire tip and can of repellent bear spray to keep of Grizzlies away as informed by those well known to the areas who themselves are carrying riffles instead, it made both me and my family laugh at this. Another thing I liked about it was the landscape and just when you looked at it yes some of it was very similar to Scotland but it made me want to go to these places at just how different the whole place was from home, and I really enjoyed seeing the difference in cultures that we are well known to compared to the culture in the program and just how different they really are.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes watching documentaries or people who enjoy Billy Connolly and hope he does another one similar to it but will be buying his other DVD's where he travels around Scotland and another one around New Zealand where it is both stand up and documentary of him traveling to each gig and sharing his experience with the audience he is performing for.