Time and Water
In the three films of hers I’ve seen, Sara Dosa has a narrative philosophy that revolves around personal connections with great wonders of the natural world. Yes, the believer in mythical creatures in “The Seer and the Unseen” is of a different breed from the couple exploring volcanoes in “Fire and Love,” and the writer trying to preserve the connection between his family and the disappearing glaciers of Iceland in “Time and Water,” but all come from a place of respect for nature, and wanting to know more about it. In “Time and Water,” the message is more emotional, and more urgent.
Andri Snær Magnason is an Icelandic author whose family has a history of conservation and exploring nature. We learn about his father and grandfather, and how he now has a family of his own. Much of the footage comes from his personal archives. Of particular note for Dosa, and National Geographic’s, purposes is how the Icelandic glaciers are chronicled, and how they are eroding due to climate change. The glaciers are something that no one anticipated losing- they give the country its identity- so their loss was not definite, like a human being. Magnason’s hope with this film, and his actions within it, is to preserve both human and Earth’s memory of that which has been lost, and which is dying.
Magnason’s voice permeates the soundtrack. We get his words, as well as words from family members about their lives, and their experiences. “Time and Water” is about memories for younger generations to experience. The images we get are lovely and sometimes haunting. The sadness as these glacier’s disappearance is chronicled is profound, and a devastating reminder that our actions are destroying the planet in ways that should be impossible. Dosa’s narrative eye combines the personal and global cataclysms in a way that draws us in. She uses the former to illustrate the latter, and her new film is a beautiful representation of that form.
