Dir: Robert Petit | US Doc 79′
Space and the universe has long captured our imagination. Now a new documentary offers a journey down to the centre of the earth to explore its remote and most unreachable corners.
Rather like those lifts that took miners to the frightening claustrophobia of the coalface, there’s certainly something unnerving about travelling much further down into the void. But not for a group of scientists and explorers keen to find out more about life in the underworld.
Best described as ‘science-fact’ Underland, based on the internationally best-selling book by Robert Macfarlane, is directed by Robert Petit and accompanied by Sandra Huller’s calm narration. With its eerie soundscape and pristine visuals Underland proves to be an unusual experience that plays out in three chapters, rather than a cohesive whole.
The Canadian-set segment is the most unreachable for those who struggle with astro-physics. But not American scientist Mariangela Lisanti whose work involves an uncertain quest to isolate dark matter in an eerie clinical laboratory forty metres underground.
Perhaps easier to relate to is the segment that follows subterranean geographer Bradley Garrett, a guide to underground Las Vegas. There’s a morbid curiosity to his trip down to the city’s storm-drains where homeless people face certain death in the event of flash floods. Meanwhile In Mexico an archaeologist explores Mayan culture in the caves of Yucatán.
If none of this grabs you then the photography is certainly startling along with a ghostly original soundtrack by Hannah Peel.
IN UK CINEMAS FROM 27 March 2026