It is a different film experience presented by a group of people who have been diving in the bottom of the planet, in Antarctica, for a whole year. It is those events that are told by daily workers who keep stations operating in the roughest place on the planet, while the movie was filmed for 15 years by Frozen Planet photographer Anthony Powell providing a realistic model unlike any other.
Powell makes excellent use of time-lapse photography to capture such natural phenomena as a sea freezing over. What registers most strongly, though, is the sense of loneliness and professional drudgery.
Mostly what you get is a chronicle of tedious routine carried out in a killing climate. That gives this documentary a flavor that is strong and genuine. Just not very appealing.
San Diego Union-Tribune
December 11, 2014
The movie shows precisely what the title suggests: the changing seasons in that desolate place, and the folks who decide to endure them.
Under incredibly harsh conditions, Powell captures the outstanding beauty of the ice, the active volcano near McMurdo, the wildlife, the ice-cold water and the amazing night sky with stars so bright, it's almost blinding.
