Shackleton's Captain

A good historical film which was put together very well .I know the story but it was good to see it made in this way .It really showed the extreams that the explorers had to go through in order to survive.

(I dunno, I've indicated they are spoilers, but can you have spoilers for historical events?) Excellent movie! A well-balanced story using a bit of documentary information, good reenactment, and wonderful archival film footage. I know only the most basic information about Shackleton, I'm not interested in sailing, I'm not interested in explorers (mainly because they screw up anything that they find), and I'm not any more interested in Antarctica then I am in any other part of the world, and I'm passionate about the world...and somehow this is the second movie about Antarctica in as many weeks that I've seen! The other one being the Korean fiction movie, Antarctic Journal. However, I love history, I do like biographies, and I always enjoy archival footage. I despise mega-egos (Shackleton), so I knew that would be my biggest hurdle in being able to stick with this. The great lesson here is that we see that nothing changes in the workplace: "the boss" will do it their way regardless of what experts tell them, even if they have selected those experts themselves! Folly then, as it is now. Excellent case in point: when they leave Elephant Island, Shackleton determines to go with them. I question the morality of that decision, but then his colossal ego is spotlighted when he says he has no knowledge whatsoever of small boats. A dead weight, in other words. I'm sure he had no interest in staying on the island (who would??) and no doubt he would want to look like the golden boy if and when he came back with the rescue party. In this entire story, Worsley is the hero, Shackleton is his ball and chain. I'm not sure if the exemplary behaviour from this team is something we would see nowadays, with a typical lack of manners (here in North America, anyway) and the age of self-entitlement. That exemplary behaviour alone probably went an extraordinarily long way to saving them. I'm cutting the shipbuilder some slack... Shackleton really deserved to have a mutiny. He was lucky it didn't pan out. Excellent movie, so many things to commend it... just try to ignore ES's gigantic head.

I was in Germany and caught this on television. Even though my German is pretty average I really enjoyed it. I hope it ends up on television in Canada so I can watch it again in English. It was everything a great adventure story should be; exciting, frightening, moving and inspirational. The balance of documentary alongside drama was perfect. I'd known a little bit about Shackleton himself but nothing about his Captain. Typical that we never hear about the people who were behind the front-man. This story really made you think about what a hero is and what it takes to keep going when all seems lost. If it wasn't a true story there is no way I would have believed it. I enjoyed the way the programme was put together as well, with the Captain telling the story himself. I thought this was an interesting way to make a documentary seem more personal. All and all it was a ripper of a yarn and anyone who is interested in sailing will really love it.

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.

Where to start? The quasi movie-documentary is so far off in its OPINION of Shackleton it is laughable. Who raised the funds to finance the effort? -Shackleton By the way there is incredible pressure to deliver on your expedition when you are funded by "free money". Who begged the King of England to allow his men to serve in WWI rather than complete the expedition? - Shackleton By the way there is life and death pressure to deliver on your expedition when your country men are dying by the tens of thousands in war. The movie completely lacks context, has no basis in fact on Shackleton's character and turns the opinion of fat, haggard arm chair experts of our current day into fact. If you want to understand why the story of the Endurance and Shackleton have been referred to by millions as THE EXAMPLE of how failure can be success, watch the PBS series of the the topic instead. If you want a "modern snowflake" revision of history, watch this garbage.

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.