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Werner Herzog has had an audience loyal to him for many years. But that he once contributed with a scene from one of his infamous documentaries TikTok It was unforeseeable that it would go viral.
For a few days now, a lonely Adelie penguin has been trending there and on Instagram, Reddit, YouTube and
The animal has long been circulating online only as the “Nihilist Penguin” or “Lonely Penguin”. The video and meme received even more attention when the White House showed an AI month with Donald Trump and a penguin about its Greenland plans (even though, as every child knows, they are on the other side of the globe).
Werner Herzog visits Antarctica
The clip – often with Werner Herzog’s sober commentary in the background – has now been shared millions of times. But only a few people know the film from which the scene, which is not so easy to explain, comes from. It is called “Encounters At The End of the World” (2007) and tells of the observations that Werner Herzog made during a visit to Antarctica, of the people who work and live there. Among other things, the McMurdo Station on the southern tip of Ross Island will be visited.
Of course, at some point it will also be about the penguins that live there. “We particularly noticed one of them – the one in the middle,” says Herzog about one of the animals. “He didn’t want to go back to the feeding grounds… or the colony. Shortly afterwards we saw him running straight towards the mountains some seventy kilometers away… But why?”
The penguin’s gait is puzzling, as it runs towards a place where there is no food, no protection and no community. A scientist laconically suggests that he will probably die.
“Encounters At The End Of The World” shows people and creatures in a place of complete isolation and Herzog searches for meaning in one of the most extreme places on earth. It is also about the disappearance of the ice cover, volcanoes, the (endangered) underwater world, neutrino research and everyday problems faced by researchers.
Extreme films, extreme documentaries
While the documentary was previously known primarily to cineastes (Herzog’s enormous work includes classics such as “Fitzcarraldo”, “Aguirre, the Wrath of God” and “Nosferatu – Phantom of the Night” – numerous documentaries, which are always accompanied by a commentary from the director, which brings a very own touch in Bavarian-colored English), it may now be discovering a new, younger generation. In Herzog’s films, the idea of encounter is to be understood quite literally in the sense of confrontation, communication and imposition. “Encounters At The End Of The World” is currently not streaming, But it is available on DVD and Blu-ray.
The 83-year-old’s best documentaries include “My Dearest Enemy” (about his time with Klaus Kinski), “Grizzly Man” (about a wildlife filmmaker who is killed by a grizzly bear) and “The Cave of Forgotten Dreams” (a glimpse into the Chauvet Cave in southern France, filmed in 3D). Most recently, the cinematic border crosser brought the documentary “Ghost Elephants” (2025) about a mysterious herd of ghost elephants in the jungle of Angola to cinemas.
But why is the penguin scene suddenly going viral after almost 20 years? Many people apparently see the penguin in the film as a symbol of exhaustion and alienation or even the desire to break out of social structures. This melancholic mood is emotionally reinforced by Herzog’s monotonous voice and the accompanying music. In the end, one question remains: “But why?”
