L'Éternel Silence, carnet de route du capitaine Scott

This film, shot from 1910-1912, is a documentary about Captain Robert Scott's journey to the South Pole. The Great White Silence (1924), is an incredible documentary, that carries the audience across the expanse of Antarctica to the South Pole. Title cards tell the story, as images of cold, treacherous landscapes glide past the screen. This is a great film to watch in January. The cold January days help emphasize the brutal conditions seen in the film. The film begins with the men loading their ship and setting across the southern hemisphere into the iceberg leaden waters of Antarctica.

I can take Antarctica off of my bucket list, because The Great White Silence (1924), showed me everything I'll ever need to know about Antarctica. The film is that good. It covers every aspect of the expedition from the route they took, the animals they brought along and a story, about the Penquins they saw, that started to get a little too lengthy. Think, March of the Penquins (2005), 1910 style. I can't imagine people doing this today, let alone 115 years ago. The fact that this film was even shot, recovered, edited together and released, is remarkable itself.

PMTM Grade: 8.7 (B+) = 8 IMDB.

Explorer Robert Scott harbored high hopes of becoming the first person to reach Antartica's South Pole. Seeking private and public funding for the Terra Nova Expedition, Scott came up short of the monies to fully finance the exploration. He turned to photographer Herbert Ponting to bring still and moving cameras to record part of what later was called the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. The intention was to collate and present the trove of film once Scott accomplished his goal for the explorer to use during his fundraising lectures. Ponting recorded every highlight of the journey beginning with the expedition's departure from England in the summer of 1910.

The cameraman seemed to take pictures of everything that moved, from the Terra Nova ship slicing through the thick Antarctic ice to animals living on the icepack. He also recorded setting up the base camp as well as showing the transport of supplies throughout the route Scott and his team were going to take on their journey to the South Pole. After 14 months at Cape Evans, Ponting with eight others left in February 1912 just before Scott began his trip to the pole. He returned to England to get a jump start on the visuals when the explorer came back from his triumphant return.

Trouble was Scott was beaten to the South Pole by Norwegian Roald Amundsen and his team by 34 days. Disheartened, Scott and his men trudged back before they were caught in a blizzard and perished. Ponting's photographs and snippets of his movies were made available to the public once the tragedy was known as a financial appeal to pay the bills for the expedition. The photographer then assembled his moving images and produced a dramatic documentary of the ill-fated trip. Since no camera crew accompanied Scott to the South Pole, Ponting filled in the blanks with reenacted painted images. He released "The Great White Silence" in 1924 to a curious English audience. Personally giving his recollections, Ponting continued his lecture circuit in 1933 when he inserted sound. Despite a North American series of lectures, the documentarian died in 1935 at his home in poverty.

The British Film Institute worked along with The Scott Polar Research Institute to restore the stunning "The Great White Silence," which has since gained critical praise, including its inclusion in '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die' reference book.

The fact that Capt. Robert Falcon Scott had the presence of mind to ensure that a cinematographer accompanied his expedition to conquer the South Pole allows us - 100 years later - to enjoy this fascinating documentary. It has been recently restored to commemorate the centenary of the ultimately doomed attempt to reach their southernmost tip of the world before his Norwegian rival Amundsen. Using original imagery from their travels, we see the planning, voyage and initial stages of their journey across Antarctica. We get a true sense of the arduous nature of their travails, the weather at sea and on land as hostile as nature can conjure. Wildlife never seen by most of us at the time of filming; their ponies and tractors; their makeshift wooden huts all have you reaching for a jumper. The shades and hues are brilliantly captured, illustrating just how white everything was as they set off. The story is augmented by a map illustrating their progress as they reach then return from their goal. The frustration I felt whilst the dots on the map gradually brought them to within 11 miles of their food dump before... It's captivating in the truest sense of the word, and is really well worth seeing on a big screen.

This film is a true inspiration. The level of patience and care that has gone into capturing these stunning images in the frozen wastes of the Antarctic, way back in the early days of cinematography - 1912, is amazing.

It's beautifully shot and edited, (recently cleaned up for the BFI), with a suitable score which gives the film a playful tone- especially as Ponting spends time following the penguins, which was comical.

Towards the end the film becomes much more emotional and by this point you truly realise the scale of the expedition, the sacrifices made and how brave Captain Scott, the explorers and Ponting with his camera were to undertake such a daring journey.

The Great White Silence (1924) : Brief Review -

In one word, THRILLING! One of the greatest Storytelling I've ever seen for a documentary and One of those Documentaries you Must Watch before you die. When i saw Robert Flaherty's 'Nanook Of The North' (1922), i thought i am done watching great documentaries of old time. I had already heard about 'The Great White Silence' even then but i kept skipping it for some reasons and Today when i am done watching it, I feel ashamed of myself. Nanook Of The North wasn't the end, here is great next chapter in the documentaries world. So, it contains brief cinematograph sequences taken during the Terra Nova Expedition of 1910-1913. The principal filmmaker was photographer Herbert Ponting. The Terra Nova Expedition was an effort, by governments and concerned citizens of what was then the British Empire, to plant the Union Jack on the South Pole by means of men, ponies, dogs, and primitive snowmobiles hauling sledges from a base located on the Antarctic coastline. The documentary portrays expedition leader Robert Falcon Scott and his ship, the Terra Nova, and men as they leave Lyttelton, New Zealand, to sail into the Southern Ocean and its ice floes. This restored version (2011) was in so good quality and the background score was so thrilling that it looked better than many thriller genre classics of 40s and 50s decades. I was hooked to it, i didn't move for a second and i was so immersed into it that i forget i am watching a documentary that released 97 years ago. What a beautiful storytelling it was. The intertitles are so well written and has that narrative values to make a Normal footage as interesting as any feature film. This is a Must See stuff, no matter how old it is and what some duffers have to say in review. You better experience it yourself than making a choice after somebody's review (including mine).

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest.