Endurance

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Endurance

2024

1h 40m

Documentary

History

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70%

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10 Reviews

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

In a legendary feat of leadership and perseverance, polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton kept alive his crew of 27 men for over a year despite the loss of their ship in frigid pack ice. Over a century later, a team of modern-day explorers sets out to find the sunken ship. Using unprecedented AI tools, the actual voices of Shackleton and his crew "read" their personal diaries from the 1914 expedition and, illustrated with Frank Hurley's original expedition footage and photos, create a shiver-inducing venture into the past using immersive techniques. Audiences are placed into you-are-there scenarios as Shackleton and six crew members speak their own diary entries, something never recorded when they were alive. In early 2022, the Endurance22 expedition team, onboard the South African icebreaker S.A. Agulhas II, carrying cutting-edge undersea search technology, set out to find the Endurance at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. Expedition Leader Dr. John Shears, expedition subsea manager Nico Vincent, director of exploration Mensun Bound and historian and broadcaster Dan Snow led a team of experts from around the globe in search of this perfect time capsule.

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Christy Lemire

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

Straightforward in the storytelling... But there's a real sweeping sense of adventure.

Nov 13, 2024

Full Review

Owen Gleiberman

Variety

I do wish, though, that the movie hadn’t mixed in re-enactments. It’s better to let us imagine what we can’t see. But what we do see in “Endurance” is quietly staggering.

Nov 8, 2024

Full Review

Dan Einav

Financial Times

While human spirit, male bonding and a steady diet of seal blubber allowed the crew to live to tell the tale, it’s artificial intelligence that lets them do so in their own voices over a century later.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 5, 2024

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Alistair Lawrence

Common Sense Media

But the care and attention taken by the filmmakers to tell the story of the Endurance's voyage through the many historic accounts, and surviving images and video, bring this story to life in compelling fashion

Dec 4, 2024

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Emily DuGranrut

In Review Online

Despite notable aesthetic strengths, Endurance struggles to maintain a tonal balance. The high-stakes, life-and-death desperation of Shackleton’s crew is often undercut by the relatively low-risk procedural approach of the modern-day mission.

Nov 1, 2024

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Hugh Barnes

The Arts Desk

The moment of discovery itself can’t avoid a certain sinking feeling of bathos.

Rated: 2/5

Oct 16, 2024

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Brent E

Some of the generative AI, graphics, and effects were not helpful and took away from the authentic photos, videos, and recordings. Otherwise the documentary does a great job telling the primary story and discovery story in tandem.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/21/24

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Margaret K

It is an exceptional documentary of the tale of two ships who battled the extremes of navigating the Antarctic. One tale is about the legendary early 20th-century exploration of the Antarctic by the British explorer Sir Ernest Shackelton in his ship the Endurance. The other tale is about the 2022 effort of oceanographers, ocean archeologists, and scientists, to locate the sunken ship Endurance that had been locked into the frozen Antarctic ice, and had sunk onto the ocean's floor.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/01/24

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Ollie U

A beautifully presented documentary chopping between jaw dropping historic footage of Shackleton and his men's plight - an extraordinary story of courage, resilience, determination and stamina - carefully woven in to the modern day story of the search for their sunken, lost ship. A long documentary but justifiably for such an epic story - that of the last century and that of this century's

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/14/24

Full Review

M C

This is one of the greatest feats of survival, and this documentary is excellent in its retelling the story. The footage and reenactments blend seamlessly, and AI voice recreations for the diary readings are excellent, too. The story of the Endurance is told alongside the story of the 2022 search for it. It's a great insight into the talent and equipment necessary to pull off a search like that. But it's the account of the Endurance that really steals the show. This is a must see. My hat's off to National Geographic on this one.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/09/24

Full Review

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Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Director

Jimmy Chin

Director

Natalie Hewit

Director

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

Producer

Jimmy Chin

Producer

Natalie Hewit

Producer

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Synopsis

In a legendary feat of leadership and perseverance, polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton kept alive his crew of 27 men for over a year despite the loss of their ship in frigid pack ice. Over a century later, a team of modern-day explorers sets out to find the sunken ship. Using unprecedented AI tools, the actual voices of Shackleton and his crew "read" their personal diaries from the 1914 expedition and, illustrated with Frank Hurley's original expedition footage and photos, create a shiver-inducing venture into the past using immersive techniques. Audiences are placed into you-are-there scenarios as Shackleton and six crew members speak their own diary entries, something never recorded when they were alive. In early 2022, the Endurance22 expedition team, onboard the South African icebreaker S.A. Agulhas II, carrying cutting-edge undersea search technology, set out to find the Endurance at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. Expedition Leader Dr. John Shears, expedition subsea manager Nico Vincent, director of exploration Mensun Bound and historian and broadcaster Dan Snow led a team of experts from around the globe in search of this perfect time capsule.

Director: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Natalie Hewit
Producer: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Natalie Hewit, Ruth Johnston, Bob Eisenhardt
Distributor: National Geographic Documentary Films
Production Co: Little Dot Studios, Consequential, History Hit
Genre: Documentary, History
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 2, 2024
Runtime: 1h 40m

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