DVD Review: Antarctica: A Year On Ice

Antarctica: A Year On Ice is an excellent and often beautiful documentary about a part of this world that most of us will never have a chance to visit. The film’s director, Anthony Powell, is someone who has spent a good deal of time there. He grew up in New Zealand, but has worked much of his adult life in Antarctica. People often ask him what it’s like to live down here. This film is in part an effort to answer that very question. And it is a film that took him more than ten years to complete.

In voice over, Powell tells us: “There really are only two seasons in Antarctica: a busy summer, when most of the science happens, and a wild and lonely winter that few people will ever experience. To understand the place properly, you really need to spend one full year down here on the ice.” And as most of will never do that, this film works as a brilliant substitute, giving us a sense of what the place is like, what its people are like, detailing both the dangers and the beauty. The film offers us some facts at the beginning, such as that Antarctica is larger than the United States of America, and that only five thousand people work there in the summer, and fewer than seven hundred remain through the winter.

Early in the film, we are shown people on a plane going to Antarctica, and so it’s as if we arrive with them, experiencing the place as one would who traveled there. It is an exciting way of presenting the film. McMurdo Station is the largest base in Antarctica, with up to 1,200 people in the summer. Scott Base is more typical, with a summer population of eighty people (with only ten there during the winter). The film introduces us to several of the people who live there and work at those bases, with Powell interviewing people who spend the winters there, as well as a few people who only are there for the summers.

All of it is quite interesting, but of course it’s the spectacular nature shots that really draw you in. And there are many in this film, some of them presented without voice over, so we’re able to take the views in ourselves. There are shots of the sky in winter that are just astounding and gorgeous. And yes, there is some wonderful footage of penguins, some of it quite funny. There is also some fun footage involving an Antarctica 48-Hour Film Project. The footage of the icebreaker ship is also great.

Partway through the film, we see footage of folks leaving at the end of summer. And in voice over we learn that when the last plane leaves, that’s it. Those remaining are stuck there for the next six months, with no way out. And that’s when things get really interesting. We learn that winds equivalent to a Category One hurricane occur weekly in winter, and these storms are frightening. The sun sets at the end of April and there is no daylight for four months. Powell and his interview subjects talk about a condition called T3, involving short-term memory loss, which occurs as those winter months drag on.

By the end of those winter months, you feel an affinity for those people on screen. You don’t realize just how strongly you’ve identified with them until the footage of the first plane arriving the following summer. The first time the film provided footage of a plane arriving, we were on the plane. Now the perspective has switched to that of the winter folks, and when the first plane arrives, the people on it are seen as strangers, almost as invaders. And that has become our perspective as well. It’s incredible how the film is able to do that.

Special Features

As you might expect of a film that took ten years to make, there are a lot of special features. There are two commentary tracks. The first is by director Anthony Powell. He talks about his process of filming, and how he got his interview subjects. He gives some very specific information on how he got certain shots. He also talks about how it was important to get an editor who had never been to Antarctica so that there would be a fresh perspective. The second commentary track is by director Anthony Powell along with his wife Christine Powell, who is seen in the film. They married in Antarctica, and there is footage of their wedding.

In Outtakes And Behind The Scenes, Anthony Powell offers more information about the area, such as the surprising fact that it doesn’t actually snow all that often. Ship Offload Time-lapse is footage of the McMurdo Station annual supply ship offload, including an icebreaking ship moving the old pier out of the way. This whole sequence is kind of amazing. A Penguin Ate My Camera is seriously funny footage of a penguin attempting to eat the camera.

Perhaps the most interesting of the special features is Saving Scott’s And Shackleton’s Huts. The Antarctic Heritage Trust works to conserve expedition bases used by explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton, and this special feature is a short documentary on that project, with interviews with many of those involved.

The DVD also includes a radio interview with director Anthony Powell. This is audio only. He talks a bit about his job and the daily routine at the base, and also about the winters and the effect of the cold on his cameras. The theatrical trailer is also included.

Antarctica: A Year On Ice was released on DVD on April 14, 2015 through Music Box Films.