The history of expeditions into hostile land contains both some of the most powerful stories of human ingenuity and some of the most staggering stories of human fallibility. Retelling the story with a level of grounded accuracy has been a time-honored tradition in film, but not every story makes the jump perfectly.
Against the Iceis adapted from “Two Against the Ice” by Ejnar Mikkelsen, an accounting of his 1909 expedition that was first published in 1955, then finally released in North America in 2003. The tale is adapted for the screen by Joe Derrick andGame of ThronesstarNikolaj Coster-Waldau, who also portrays Mikkelsen, and is directed by Peter Flinth.
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The frustrating thing about discussingAgainst the Iceis that it’s extremely well put together, and many people clearly put in an immense amount of work to get it made, but there just isn’t much there. The cinematography is packed with stunning shots of the frozen landscapes. It wasfilmed on location inGreenland and Iceland, and that commitment to the setting makes a lot of it a treat to look at. Filming this thing must have been a very serious undertaking, there were reports of injuries and even one story about the crew being stranded on a glacier. This level of additional difficulty makes the cast’s outstanding performances even more impressive. The film’s producer, Baltasar Kormakur is clearly fascinated by these natural survival dramas, he previously directedEverestandAdrift. The sheer filmmaking skills on display make this an undeniably well-crafted piece, but it lacks the deeper elements of many of its peers.
The plot is simple, as is every other aspect of the film. The year is 1910, Captain Ejnar Mikkelsen leads a Danish expedition to the frozennortheastern corner of Greenland. He is guided by a diary that points the way towards a previous expedition’s haul. His goal is to disprove an American claim to the area and hand exclusive control of Greenland to Denmark. After a failed dog-sled trek, Mikkelsen has a hard time recruiting a volunteer to join him for the second attempt. Mikkelsen is accompanied by mechanic Iver Iversen, who has little experience navigating in the cold. The duo is swiftly left for dead by the rest of the team and must survive harsh conditions in an arctic cabin for over two years.They face wild animals, natural disasters, and the gradual degradation of their own sanity.
There have been plenty of movies in this model already,Arctic,Alive, The Mountain Between Us, and many more.Against the Iceinhabits the middle of the spectrum, better than many and worse than others. Thedialogue is the big weak point. The script can be best described as workmanlike. It communicates its basic themes but regularly drops pseudo-philosophical diatribes with little further reflection. Interesting ideas are occasionally brought up, and it keeps threatening to make a larger point about duty, nationalism, exploration, nature, or any other topic more high-minded than freezing to death. It just doesn’t want to explore larger topics, and its take on main characters slipping into madness is unoriginal at best. Aspects of the storytelling feel inspired by pulp novels, and the film’s version of planting and payoff is a bit elementary. The lines that foreshadow later events will be very obvious to most viewers. Ditto the attemptsat messing with perception. There’s just nothing surprising or deep hidden behind all the standard frozen horror.
Against the Icemakes mistakes on both sides when it comes to historical adaptation. Those with any familiarity with the events of the story might find the character’s English accents and regular use of anachronism frustrating. This is a common Hollywood problem, for some reason, films regularly take anyaccent from Ancient Greekto modern Mandarin and use English in its place. Not every character falls prey to this issue, but the ones that do are distracting in a film that spends so much time telling the audience where everyone is from. The events are straightforwardly adapted from the book, but true stories are rarely well-paced. There’s no sense of escalation or that things are getting worse as the main characters' time in the ice is chronicled by an on-screen day count. This hurts the film’s overall flow and makes it hard to come away with any satisfaction in the end.
There’s a lot to like aboutAgainst the Ice, from the beautiful visuals and solid performances to the occasionally fun dialogue exchanges to the half-hearted attempts at a message. Fans of the largersubgenre of survival dramaor viewers particularly afraid of freezing to death, or people with strong grasps of Danish history will probably enjoy this film. It’s worth watching, even if most audiences probably won’t remember sitting down to it a month later. Be warned, however, those who can’t stand it when dogs die in film should skip it.
Against the Iceis streaming on Netflix now.
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