Shackleton - The Greatest Survival Story of All Time (2002)

Shackleton is not a biopic of the great Anglo-Irish explorer but a dramatization of the failed trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914-1916. As written and directed by Charles Sturridge (Longitude), the production, filmed on real ice floes in Greenland, stays remarkably close to the facts, capturing the look of the surviving expedition photos by Frank Hurley (collected in the book South with Endurance) with great fidelity. Kenneth Branagh makes no attempt at an authentic accent but otherwise gives a powerful impression of a most commanding personality. When the expedition ship Endurance became locked in the Antarctic ice, Shackleton vowed to bring every man home alive, and against virtually impossible odds, including a 700-mile journey in an open boat through some of the worst seas in the world, he did just that. This superlative miniseries realizes the story with production values and cinematography that would not disgrace a big-budget feature (South, Hurley's 1919 silent movie featuring some motion-picture footage from the expedition, is also available on video). Intense physical drama, strong performances, and Adrian Johnston's fine score combine here to deeply moving effect, marred only a little by a rushed conclusion. With Roland Huntford, author of the definitive Shackleton biography, as production advisor, this easily stands as the benchmark for all future comparable films. --Gary S. Dalkin Amazon.com

Shakleton...

An okay movie loosely based on Ernest Shackleton's doomed voyage to the bottom of the world. The movie does its best to stick with his life from his diaries.

This is a set of 3 dvds that give you a biography Shackleton, discovery channel of Anartica, and the movie itself. August 22, 2008

A Superb Collection

This is an absolutely superb collection. The A&E Shackleton, featuring Kenneth Branagh, is beautifully directed, powerfully acted and faithful to the facts of what happened. The danger here is that the adventure elements could be lost and the grinding facts of hunger, cold and life on the ice floe dominate. Without understating the challenges, the film captures all of the constituent elements--Shackleton's personal conflicts (and loves, both licit and illicit), the financial ruin of his brother Frank, his fundraising challenges, the presence of WW I in contemporary consciousness, the adventure story itself and its powerful resolution.

The subsidiary material is spectacular--the Biography channel Shackleton, an extensive study of Antarctica, biographical material on Branagh, etc. and, perhaps most interesting, a special on the making of the film, with extensive coverage of the ethos of film production--meals, pep talks, challenges with regard to the shooting schedule, improvisation and the vagaries of Greenland/Iceland weather. I especially liked the intercut footage from the original expedition and the degree to which the current production achieves its considerable authenticity.

Highly recommended. Branagh is excellent. Watch for a nice performance by Robert Hardy as the pivotal sponsor, James Caird. July 16, 2008

Superb historical drama with some great acting

The story of Ernest Shackleton's grandiosely-named Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition is a pretty amazing one, which I will not summarise here as other reviewers have already done so. Yet there is another story to this film - how one man fought against self-doubt, the hostility of the authorities and the indifference of the public, ultimately to rise triumphant out of a difficult situation and prove his true worth. I'm talking, ladies and gents, about the acting career of Kenneth Branagh.

Branagh has been famous for ages but he has proved to be a mostly rotten film director. His Shakespearean adaptations are heavy on attractive set dressing and star cameo appearances, but light on inventiveness, pace, spontaneity and even comprehensibility (his 'Hamlet' was a major offender, loaded with so many stars that despite thoughtful performances from the leads it ended up as a mere exercise in spotting who was going to turn up next), while his non-Shakespeare films (such as 'Peter's Friends', 'In The Bleak Midwinter' and the terrifyingly awful 'Dead Again') have not, on the whole, been much fun to sit through.

Thankfully for us all, Branagh neither wrote nor directed this remarkable true story about the time-honoured English theme of Heroic Failure. All he had to do was play Ernest Shackleton, one of the most appealing and sympathetic figures of the heroic age of Antarctic Exploration. He is at the head of a heavyweight cast, including such excellent actors as Lorcan Cranitch as Shackleton's bluff and loyal right-hand man Frank Wild - nice to see this fine actor not playing a bad guy for a change; Phoebe Nicholls as the faithful but melancholy wife; Embeth Davidtz as the glamorous mistress; Kevin McNally, wonderful as the ship's master, an ineffectual leader of men but a phenomenally gifted navigator; Mark McGann slightly wasted as the ever-reliable Tom Crean. It's up to Branagh to match all these, as well as Charles 'Brideshead Revisited' Sturridge's economical script and meticulous direction. He does so, with panache to spare.

Branagh has been so bad in so many of his own films for so long that it's become easy to think of him as a bad actor. He is in fact a great actor, and he proved it with three very different films that were all made around the same time: this one, for Britain's Channel 4; Frank Pierson's 'Conspiracy', for HBO; and Michael Kalesniko's very funny comedy 'How To Kill Your Neighbor's Dog'. In each of these films, Branagh brought to unforgettable life a doggedly humane and relentlessly determined Antarctic explorer, a charming but entirely amoral Nazi officer, and a cynically funny English playwright living in Los Angeles. He is one of the most enjoyable things about this movie, and don't let anyone tell you different. May 13, 2008

Educational, but not for Education

This DVD was well produced and tells the exciting story of Shackleton's fatefull Antarctic expedition very acurately. However, as a teacher, I must warn that without a lot of careful editing and fast-forwarding, this film is not immediately classroom appropriate. Definitely pre-watch for parts with language and one gruesome scene involving the amputation of a sailor's toes. I did show some appropriate scenes to my students and they really enjoyed seeing everything they'd read in Jennifer Armstrong's "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" acted out on screen. February 8, 2008

Fact or Fiction ? I pass on this Shackleton

Having seen various other versions of Shackletons' expeditions I was surprised that this one portrayed Shackleton as a selfish, shallow womanizer. Perhaps I'm not British enough to find his dalliances amusing or interesting. The "manly, man's man" comes across as one incapable of holding any moral high ground and becomes quite oddly subdued when confronted with his very unintimidating wife concerning his unfaithfulness. He seems devoted above all else to self interest. The mighty Shackleton it seems didn't have any real skills for employment.
His selfishness and pride made him deaf to good counsel, and so he put his trusting crew in mortal danger. He's not a hero, simply a proud man running away from himself while chasing after self gratification, and glory. The stories of Shackelton's explorations are much more interesting than the man this movie makes him out to be. In this version he is not so much a heroic explorer as he is a bumbling survior obssessed with the idea that playing explorer will make him more of real man and give his life meaning. February 3, 2008

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