Movie Review: Into the Cold

Adventure is defined as “an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.” I love adventure when it comes to the “unusual and exciting”…not so much when it comes to the “hazardous.” (I’ve eaten live octopus before, though and that probably counts?) So you wouldn’t find me on the type of adventure featured in this film–marching across the Arctic in -34 degree temperatures for 35 days to reach the North Pole.

But, Sebastian Copeland, a photographer and activist, and his friend, another polar explorer, Keith Heger, decide to do just that to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the first expedition to the North Pole by Admiral Robert Peary in 1909.

This documentary captures their trek (including information on their training, what they packed and why) with vivid shots of vast whiteness and their own words to describe what they’re going through. Pulling heavy sleds across rocky uneven terrain with challenging weather makes the feat sometimes seem impossible: “The mood varies between euphoric and upbeat and frustrated and doubtful.”

There’s a strong message on climate change featured throughout as the duo are also doing this to raise awareness on melting Polar caps–Copeland makes the point that there will be no opportunity for a bicentennial expedition.

I find other people’s commitments to treks like this interesting and I’ve certainly never experienced anything like the Arctic, but the film isn’t particularly exciting, Copeland and Heger aren’t featured enough for me to truly care about them (I mean, I’m not cold-hearted or anything, but there isn’t enough insight for me to want to follow their story), and the scenery is definitely new but not awe-inspiring (Copeland acknowledges that capturing the scenery on film is difficult for many reasons).

So, you will not find me donning a parka and traveling to the Northwest Passage anytime soon, but if you are planning on doing something like that, you’d probably enjoy Into the Cold.