‘Shackleton: The Greatest Story of Survival’ – Review
When it comes to larger-than-life heroes, the greatest of human achievements could be set down to that of famed explorer Sir Earnest Shackleton. For 497 days, Shackleton and his crew of sea-hardened adventurers battled hunger, temperature, isolation and the very limits of nature all in an effort for survival and it is a miraculous journey that has many lessons to teach us today.
The true story of polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance. 28 lost adventurers must fight for their lives after their only lifeline is destroyed in the most uninhabitable place on Earth – Antarctica. The story’s told by the only man ever to have repeated their incredible feat – explorer and adventurer Tim Jarvis. Following in the beset crew’s footsteps, Tim reveals the enduring legacy of Shackleton’s crisis leadership in the face of impossible odds – a lesson more relevant to us now than ever before.
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914 – 1917 could arguably be called humanity’s greatest-ever achievement. But this is not in its achievement of reaching the very edge of Antarctica but of one man’s commitment to his men to see them returned to safety and the extraordinary lengths that the human will and spirit can take us. That was the path that Sir Earnest Shackleton, the famed Antarctic explorer would take on the journey of the Endurance, a fitting name for a ship that would see its crew through extraordinary times. And this incredible story of survival, which could be viewed as humanity’s greatest-ever achievement of will, is brought to the screen in Shackleton: The Greatest Story of Survival.
Through the use of archival imagery, reconstruction, and journal entries, audiences are guided through the staunch, stoic and legendary journey that Shackleton and his men made to survive Antarctica and an effort that would see all 28 members survive the expedition and return home. Modern-day Australian explorer Tim Jarvis narrates this incredible story and pays homage to his boyhood hero and the extraordinary courage and leadership he applied to see his men survive the most inhospitable place on earth. Shackleton’s story is one of raw courage and audiences will find themselves caught up in this incredible piece of documentary cinema as the days tick by, Shackleton has to embrace ingenuity, cunning and invention to survive and keep his men alive.
But Shackleton: The Greatest Story of Survival is not merely the story of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition and its miraculous conclusion, but its also a call to arms for effective and forward-thinking leadership on the issues of climate change. Jarvis says that by looking to Shackleton’s sense of leadership and ingenuity we can turn the tide of the effects of climate change and find a new way to live in harmony with the natural world, which will lead to a better world for all.
Shackleton: The Greatest Story of Survival is a gripping documentary film experience and audiences will come out of this picture with a strong sense of hope and optimism that nothing is impossible when matched to the human spirit.
Image: Kismet
