I'm a sucker for adventure documentaries, even though they often leave me in a less healthy emotional state than beforehand.

I'm not typically one to envy others. But it never fails that every single godforsaken time I watch an adventure documentary I get wrapped in a cocoon of existential dilemas. What am I doing with my life? Why aren't I traveling the planet, experiencing everything there is to experience, before my time's up? Why aren't I helping to save Patagonia, or the starving children of Africa?

What's more, inevitably the subjects of these documentaries (who I'm sure are actually decent dudes), always have a slightly condescending tone about whatever it is they're doing.

Case in point: One of the chief subjects of "180 Degrees South," Yvon Chouinard, who's also the founder of the adventure clothing company Patagonia, tells me sometime in the documentary that I'm pretty much a schmuck. Well, his exact words were, "The word 'adventure' has gotten overused. To me, adventure is when everything goes wrong."

On the surface, the words ring pretty true, authentic even. But, you know, me, in the middle of my existential crisis, am already a little, shall we say, sensitive. So, I'm watching the movie, completely enraptured by the transcendent beauty I'm witnessing on my TV screen, mesmerized, taken aback that suck places actually exist on this planet and not in the form of a video game or CGI-laden blockbuster. It's like a real life Pandora.

And I'm 1.) sad because I will most likely never see these places in person, and 2.) trying to cheer myself up with all the adventures I've already had and will continue having hiking and camping and trail running and mountain biking and etc. etc. etc. -- and I'm feeling these emotions and realizing, as he's saying this about the word 'adventure,' that my life is lacking in adventure. All because this guy says so.

And so, that, folks, is my own issue, I suppose, but it's certainly a good deal of baggage I bring to these types of movies, and, I imagine, it's the same baggage most people bring as well.

All that being said, "180 Degrees South" is a pretty good little flick if you can get past how uncool and unadventurous your sad little life is compared to Yvon and his other 'co-star,' Doug Tompkins, who happens to be the founder of North Face.

The documentary, you see, was inspired by Yvon and Doug's epic 10,000 mile trip to Patagonia in 1968. 'Adventurer' Jeff Johnson saw the footage Yvon and Doug took of that trip about 10 years ago and decided that's what he wanted to do with his life. The documentary, then, is a re-creation by Jeff of Doug and Yvon's trip.

Along the way, Jeff is joined by a few friends as they sail the Pacific Ocean for about 45 days before being shipwrecked on Easter Island. There Jeff meets a local who was the first female surfer on the island. The girl, whose name escapes me at this moment, eventually joins the travelers on their merry escapade.

With their ship only slightly repaired, they finally head toward the nearest port after being shipwrecked for almost a month. Only it'll take about another month to completely fix the mast, so the travelers leave behind their companion with the boat to travel by land to Cerro Corcovado. It's this mountain that's the focus of the trip. It's this mountain that Yvon and Doug conquered during their 1968 trip. And it's this mountain that inspired Doug and his wife to eventually purchase more than 2 million acres of undeveloped land in Chile to keep as a national park.

It's at this point, when the documentary starts to focus on Mr. and Mrs. Tompkins' philanthropy work, that it started to lose me. I support (and practice) conservation as much as the next person, but the focus change here struck me as a little masturbatory and excessive.

I'm sure it was an attempt to add a little depth and weight to the documentary, as otherwise the film would have been nothing but exquisitely beautiful shots of surfing and sailing and rock climbing and unspoiled jungles and waterways and waterfalls and laid back lounging on the beach by a fire while the sun sets off in the distance and ...

Actually, that would have been just fine. Yea, they should have stopped at awesome.

Watched:

• Day 1: "The Union: The Business Behind Getting You High"

• Day 2: "Pearl Jam 20"

• Day 3: "My Winnipeg"

• Day 4: "180 Degrees South"

Still to come:

• "Heavy Metal in Baghdad"

• "Hoop Dreams"

• "Man on Wire"

• "Sweetgrass"

• "Touching the Void"

• "The Cove"

• "Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child"

• "Exit Through the Gift Shop"

• "Encounters at the End of the World"

• "The Garden"

• "Wild China"

• "Blindsight"

• "Up the Yangtze"

• "Beer Wars"

• "Microcosms"

• "Marwencol"

• "No Impact Man"

• "The Pixar Story"

• "Capitalism: A Love Story"

• "Waiting for Superman"

• "Waste Land"

• "The Business of Being Born"

• "Who Killed The Electric Car"

• "The Future of Food"

• "Gonzo"

• "Biggie and Tupac"

• "We Live in Public"

• "Examined Life"

• "God Grew Tired of Us"

• "The Thin Blue Line"

• "Troubled Water"

• "Dark Days"

• "Paris is Burning"

• "Page One"

• "Restrepo"

• "Which Way Home"