The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition

"The Endurance" (2000): Documentary. "In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton set sail on the Expedition with 27 men aboard, aiming to cross Antarctica. But when the vessel became stranded in frigid, deep waters, the crew began a battle of the human spirit, testing the limits of endurance as they strove to overcome the debilitating setback. Miraculously, they succeeded, even capturing the experience in pictures and on film." What is MOST profound about this story is what you learn from the mouths and diaries of survivors & their families. Their story leaves you gasping for air, and feeling you can NEVER EVER AGAIN WHINE ABOUT A SINGLE THING in your cushy, little, safe, easy, pampered life. This is one of the most difficult, torturous trials of life of all time. These men were the toughest, bravest, most steadfast humans to walk the Earth. It BOGGLES my mind to think of what they faced, and what they did to survive. Wow. See this! Get some perspective.

At any point in this expedition, many would have given up or run out of ideas, but Ernest Shackleton's attitude reminds one of the Apollo 13 support crews in that failure was not an option. Everything great about the human species is seen in the efforts to discover an escape route from the pack ice, to find food in an almost lunar landscape and to send at least a few sailors to an island near the shipping lanes hundreds of miles from camp, the last chance for anyone to discover that Endurance's crew was still alive. Shackleton's refusal to give up, as well as resourcefulness in making unwasteful decisions, was the main reason for the rescue of the entire crew. Other than sled dogs, the antarctic didn't claim a single life - from this crew, anyway.

This is the most unbelievable TRUE story I have ever seen! Thank God I walked into it not knowing anything about Shackleton or the cataclysmic expedition he and his men endured for almost two years of their lives; I was mesmerized by the tale and STUNNED by the conclusion!

Without a doubt, Sir Ernest Shackleton is one of the bravest, loyal, and awe-inspiring men I have ever heard of. This documentary does everything right in trying to tell his (and his crew's) story without sensationalizing or mythifying his character. Use of actual still and motion picture photography from the doomed expedition, letters from the crew, interviews and stories with grandchildren of the ship-men, new footage of the original Antarctic sites, and a beautifully written and delivered narration (by Liam Nieson) are blended together seemlessly to transport the viewer back in time, and into the terror that was the voyage of The Endurance.

Although Kenneth Branagh's SHACKLETON (2002) was a good effort and a fine telling, it truly could not capture the real tension, anticipation, expectation and real-life drama in the way this documentary did throughout (I found Branagh's version often played on obvious audience manipulators, ie., heavy-handed dialogue, hammered musical scoring, camera indulgence, etc.).

9/10. ENDURANCE is the greatest example of TRUTH being stranger than fiction, and so much more compelling!

An inspiring story of the will to survive which takes us back to the "Heroic Age" of exploration. Ernest Shackleton's expedition to the Antarctic set off in 1914 on the eve of World war 1. However, they became trapped in pack ice not far from their destination, though not close enough. So began a 2-year ordeal in the most inhospitable conditions,a constant fight for survival, before the redoubtable Shackleton got his men to safety...without losing one life. Then, on top of that, the men hurried back to help the war effort. The documentaries mix footage taken by the original expedition photographer and new footage to show the picturesque yet deadly, inhospitable and unforgiving land, and tell this superhuman tale of survival. Effectively shot and beautifully edited, and well narrated by Liam Neeson, you can almost feel the cold. At the end of it, no matter how much you already knew about the expedition, you still cannot believe this incredible story is real.

If you need something to remind you how incredible, brave and courageous people can be under the most impossible conditions, there are few better places to explore than the hell on earth experienced by Shackleton and his band of adventurers and how they escaped its frozen grasp.