Antarctica: A Year on Ice

Play trailer

Antarctica: A Year on Ice

PG

2014

1h 31m

Documentary

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

87%

Tomatometer

30 Reviews

81%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Explorers spend a year in the southern-most continent.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Stream Now

Matthew Lickona

San Diego Reader

12/12/2014

1/5

Way too much screen time is given over to folks describing what it's like to live in such a place, as opposed to, you know, actually living there.

Go to Full Review

Peter Keough

Boston Globe

12/04/2014

2.5/4

"Antarctica" ultimately does evoke a sense of the place - its magnificent emptiness and inhuman, unspoiled purity.

Go to Full Review

Michael O'Sullivan

Washington Post

12/04/2014

3/4

It is the simple glimpses of ordinary life in an extraordinary place that are the most stirring moments in the film.

Go to Full Review

Neely Swanson

Easy Reader (California)

09/15/2017

... come for the beauty and adventure of seeing nature's last holy land but stay for the interesting and unusual story of individuals who brave isolation and privation to experience something that so few have ever felt.

Go to Full Review

Kathy Fennessy

The Stranger (Seattle, WA)

08/21/2017

As a film about human beings in extreme isolation, [Anthony Powell] tapped a particularly rich vein.

Go to Full Review

Indra Arriaga

Anchorage Press

06/20/2017

Powell is not a film school chum but his work in Antarctica: A Year on Ice shows a great deal of commitment, understanding of the subject matter, and technical skills.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Thomas B

09/10/2020

Just a fantastically honest and revealing look into the real life of those living and working on the worlds loneliest continent.

See more

06/10/2020

The cinematography was good, and the time-lapse was beautifully done. However, I quit watching this "promotional video for Antarctica" when he said, "It's heartbreaking to see the wildlife in distress, but we're not allowed to help. We just have to let nature takes its course." oh, the humanity! If we as humans will not step up to be stewards of our fellow creatures - who will!? Nature itself - that we're invading and destroying!? I will not consciously recommend watching this "promotional video for Antarctica." It had the connotation of - 'Come on down! Let's continue to invade and take over!'

See more

04/06/2020

Beautiful scenery. Compelling.

See more

12/11/2016

Beautiful and interesting scenery.

See more

03/17/2016

I just could not get into this documentary about life in Antarctica. The scenery is beautiful, but the narrative was a bit too dull for my liking. Lots of people liked this one, I guess it just wasn't for me.

See more

02/01/2016

Yes, it's visually stunning, and paints a magnificent portrait of the environment in Antarctica. But it goes beyond that, giving a glimpse into the harshness of life and the loneliness of working on the frozen continent. As Anthony Powell, the creator of the film notes, the only way to truly understand is to spend a year on the ice, but this film does evoke deeply the experience of isolation, cold, storms, and such a small population to interact with, combined with the tedium of day-to-day work that most of us experience in our daily lives. It also gives a sense of the beauty and unspoiled grandeur of Antarctica, with its clean air, shockingly loud silence, and extraordinary displays of natures wrath and beauty.

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Anthony Powell

Director

Genevieve Bachman

Self

William Brotman

Self

Michael Christiansen

Self

Tom Hamann

Self

George Lampman

Self

The Short Game

84%

84%

The Short Game

Watchlist

Fed Up

80%

84%

Fed Up

Watchlist

Dark Horse

96%

76%

Dark Horse

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Dark Horse

Return to Hardwick

%

92%

Return to Hardwick

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Return to Hardwick

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Dave Chappelle Specials, Orphan Black, Train to Busan, and More on Netflix and Amazon Prime This Week

Critics Consensus: Penguins of Madagascar Is Silly Fun

View more photos

Synopsis

Explorers spend a year in the southern-most continent.

Director: Anthony Powell
Producer: Anthony Powell
Screenwriter: Anthony Powell, Simon Price
Distributor: Music Box Films
Rating: PG (Language|Mild Thematic Elements)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 28, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 21, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $242.2K
Runtime: 1h 31m

Most Popular at Home Now