Shackleton's Captain

I saw this movie on TV in New Zealand. It is the most incredible story. I didn't really know anything about it and now I don't know why everyone in NZ isn't aware of this incredible Kiwi. This movie explains that while the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton was a great leader, without Frank Worsley he may have been just another dead English explorer. I love to sail and I was in awe of what Worsley achieved. The journey on the lifeboat must be one of the great sailing journeys of all time. Anyone who is into yachting should see this film. Aside from anything else it is incredible to see what these men endure. Just inspiring that they could keep going. The movie itself is really great it mixes old footage, with interviews and scenes with actors. I was pulled into the story and by the end I was actually cold. I thought Craig Parker who played Frank Worsley was wonderful.

This excellent made for TV drama-documentary retell's the story of Shackleton's legendary 1915/16 expedition to the Antarctic but from the viewpoint of the captain of Endurance, Frank Worsley. It is, perhaps justifiably, a bit negative about Shackleton, but in any case you can't fail to be awed once more by the guys involved and the feats achieved. It's all rather well done, mixing Frank Hurleys images contemporary interviews and dramatic reconstructions well.

This film is very well done! We watched this in NZ while visiting there, and thought it was brilliant.

History not many of us hear about!! Being a true story added even more to the feeling of the plot line and the tension as Shakelton was attempting to save the crew. The acting was extremely good, and the sets very realistic. I especially liked the attention to detail of the period costumes during the lecture.

As a Canadian, who has experienced it, the cold was portrayed brilliantly.

Frank Worsely himself is an unknown hero to most of us for his saving of the crew, and the crew's ability to maintain relative calm while stranded for 2 months while awaiting word as to what Worsely and Shakelton had or had not accomplished in their attempt to save them is a major storyline unto itself.

Everyone we were with, as Canadians, felt the same way as we did. We hope the feature films in Canada for two reasons. 1. To allow people to learn about this adventure. 2. Be proud of a Canadian born filmmaker who is doing so well in NZ.

An outstanding docudrama which tells the true story of the Shackleton adventure from the perspective of Captain Worsley, the captain of Shackleton's ship "Endurance". The film gives us an accurate, rather than a popular sensationalist account, of the adventure in which Shackleton is revealed to be not as big a hero as he has been made out to be. Here we learn through a gripping portrayal of how the survival of the stranded adventurers depended on the skill and judgement of Captain Worsley, rather than Shackleton; and that Shackleton himself showed poor judgement in undertaking the expedition in the first place, given the pack-ice conditions. The filming combines contemporary footage and dramatised reconstructions with interviews of writers, mountaineers and other experts in the field. The narration is achieved through a dramatised portrayal of Captain Worsley giving a lecture to a small audience at a club in the 1920s, in the calm manner of an English gentleman. The information presented is accurate and great attention is given to the visual details using CGI in a subtle but highly effective way. The casting is spot on and the acting is excellent.

Capt. Frank Worsley of New Zealand deserves as much if not more recognition than his employer, Sir Ernest Shackleton in regards to the latter's Imperial Trans-Arctic Expedition. What Capt. Worsley accomplished on more than one occasion borders on miraculous. This docu-drama is enhanced with the outstanding work of Australian expedition photographer Frank Hurley. He managed to save numerous stills and silent film footage that speak to the conditions that the crew of "Endurance" had to exist in, or die. Well done production!