Endurance

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Endurance

2024

1h 40m

Documentary

History

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

70%

Tomatometer

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 (LAist)

11/13/2024

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

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Owen Gleiberman

Variety

11/08/2024

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.

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Dan Einav

Financial Times

11/05/2024

3/5

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.

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Alistair Lawrence

Common Sense Media

12/04/2024

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

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Emily DuGranrut

In Review Online

11/01/2024

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.

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David H

@DavidHHH Dec 29

Love the way they mix a re-telling of the Shackleton story with the modern-day search for his ship. One of the amazing things about Shackleton's expedition was always the documentary record they kept and left - photos, diaries, film, even. Fantastic detail of a time when the earth still had vast unexplored places and men could really get lost. For the full, heroic account, must read the book, of course.

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Chris C

@RT86317978 05/10/2025

A brilliant documentary, a story well worth telling, impressive restoration of old images and records, and a real euphoric moment when both the old and new crews succeed in their missions and find their subject(s). If you like maritime archaeology and good story telling, this one's a must see.

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Kate B

@RT36387439 03/08/2025

Brilliant. So well done. You won’t be disappointed.

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CatholicToni T

@RT27299070 02/24/2025

This blew my mind. I can’t believe I have never heard of Endurance before, it’s life changing!

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Braden M

@RT89257995 01/23/2025

Though interesting throughout, the gripping story of Shackleton's crew is slightly undercut by the modern day mission to find the wreck. If the modern mission was shown after Shackleton's adventure ended, then the pacing might feel more natural.

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Sam W

@RT06322125 01/07/2025

Very well put together, amazing footage and very well told. A must watch

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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