It's called Chasing Shackleton on PBS. Just goes to show how weird documentary names are. It's really hard to track down documentaries as it may belong to 2 different series and have 2 different names depending on what companies bought the rights to sell it. And many are not on IMDb either.
This is not a high quality documentary. The camera on the mast is low quality. Shaky-cam is used too much. The flash of clips is too fast. And the tension is very much constructed in the editing room. Yet all these A to B documentaries have a very strong appeal as they promise a goal. That goal will keep you glued to the screen even though it all feels a bit fake.
"Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" is one of the best books ever written. So clearly I had to see this documentary. I also watched other documentaries on this journey and even watched the mini series plus other mini series featuring some of the story. I, of course, am a huge sucker for A to B stories like this.
The story itself is engaging enough without being amazing. They do get some external help. Otherwise they'll have died. The Australia ship for example makes sure to warn them about sailing into rocks. If the ship hadn't warned them they wouldn't have completed the journey. They also are better prepared and better nourished than the 1916 guys. And they already know the route and what to do or not to do. It's still a very hard trip and many just cannot complete it. But it's of course not the original journey that must have been much harder. They were also lucky with the waves, had a better tent, and were followed by people ready to give advice or warn them. All essential of course. You can't just risk lives on such a replication journey.
It's also fun to see how arrogant some of these guys are. One guy calls sound medical advice "fear mongoring" not understanding that facts are facts and not just some evil campaign to stop him.
It's probably worth a watch if you are bored. But there is not much to it. The camera work makes it confusing visually so there is not much to enjoy that way. But it's a fun watch while it lasts. The tension is enough to make it a tense watch.
