Warren Miller's The Power of Snow
November 2003 Reviewed by: Josh Barber Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

When I was young, I thought I'd live forever. Now that I'm 76 years old, I think I probably already have.
-- Warren Miller

Envision bright, sun-soaked beaches alongside warm, crystal-clear waters. The sand squishing between your toes as you take a leisurely stroll at sunset, with the sound of the waves behind you. If that describes your idea of a great vacation, an idyllic way to pass the time, then Warren Miller is not the filmmaker for you.

Miller is the photographic demigod of snowy peaks, of fresh powder crunching under your boots, and the sharp sound of new tracks carved across the mountain face. For more than 50 years, Warren Miller has been documenting the progress of modern winter sports, from wooden skis and leather boots to the newest composite-material snowboards.

Every Miller film looks a great deal like every other Miller film: young snow stars going out of their way to enjoy virgin trails and unmarred vistas, careening down mountainsides, off short cliffs and other jumps to get a few minutes' worth of icy freedom. It's "the right stuff" on the white stuff, with professional skiers and snowboarders doing their thing for the cameras.

Each segment is set to its own soundtrack. The music ranges from pop to alt to country and back again, but the films are more than snowy music videos. There are story portions that follow the athletes through various activities, whether it is seeking out a new training ground or just trying to share living space with six other folks. There are interviews that give one a perspective on what it is like to quit your job to ski full time. Miller himself provides a lot of narration.

This narration is a bit odd. It seems strange to hear a voice that one would normally expect to hear discussing the history of World War II or the migration habits of buffalo talking so enthusiastically about new boot bindings, the limitations of Olympic-style moguls, or the time spent living in a van in a parking lot. But Miller's professionalism makes the films accessible even to those who don't live year-round on the mountaintops.

With more than 50 years of experience, Miller is very good at what he does. The action shots are all framed beautifully, focusing alternately on the people and the scenery, combining a sense of human achievement with a sense of the grandiose scale on which the athletes ply their craft. The interviews make us care, keeping the skiers human in our minds, preventing them from becoming generic stock footage.

Though the films all cover the same material -- the joy of skiing -- each does bring some unique moments as well. In Storm, for instance, a quartet of snow pros goes to train with the US Marines at their mountaineering school, while the celebratory Fifty introduces us to the Schrab brothers, twins from the flat expanse of Wisconsin who built their own ski jump from telephone poles, hay bales, and snow plowed from neighboring farms. Of particular interest is the record-setting "quad-quad" landed by Olympic skier Matt Chojnacki in 2001's Cold Fusion. That's four backflips and four twists in one jump: a dervish of arms, legs, and skis that spins the rider through the air for all of three seconds before slamming him (hopefully) down onto his feet once again.

At first glance, it seems like Warren Miller's films would be ideal for the kind of person who is really into treating glaucoma, if you follow me. However, they are all entertaining tributes to the chilly white stuff that will soon be headed our way again and to those who have fun in it. Besides, if you don't watch them this year, you will be one year older when you do.

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