Watch Into the Cold: A Journey of the Soul For Free

Simply Perfect

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

"Into the Cold: A Journey of the Soul" (2010 release; 87 min.) retells the preparation for, and then the actual attempt, to recreate the polar expedition of Admiral Keary and his team from 1909 exactly 100 years later. It basically involved a 6 week trek on foot, covering over 300 miles, towards the north pole. As the documentary opens, we are introduced to Sebastian Copeland, the writer-director-photographer-editor and all-around "star" of this movie. We learn a bit of his background and then things start to get serious with the final preparations of Sebastian's and Keith's trek, which Sebastian calls "the Mount Everest of polar expeditions", but as the DVD jacket cleverly points out: "In the last century, fewer than 150 people have made it to the North Pole on foot. By comparison, 77 people summitted Mt. Everest on May 22, 2008 alone", so it's pretty clear which of the two is hardest. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: first, the initial 40 min. or so of the documentary are devoted to background stories and preparations for the expedition. So when we finally do get to the actual expedition, I was more than ready for it. I'm happy to say it is very much worth it, and then some. We see Sebastian and Keith dealing with rubble fields, pressure ridges, fatigue, and the cold. Ah, yes, the cold! Temperatures exceed minus 50F at times, just unreal. Second, the footage from the North Pole is nothing short of stunning. And the beauty is that we get to see it in the comfort and warmth of our living room. Third, despite all the fluff about "searching for myself" or "a soul's journey", Copeland has a clear agenda for doing this, and the movie is basically a plea for a renewable and sustainable world. Last but not least, the documentary features a great soundtrack (courtesy of Didier Lockwood), and the occasional song (best of all: Canada's own Besnard Lakes' epic "Like The Ocean. Like The Innocent", which plays over the end titles). Somewhat surprisingly there are no bonus materials of any kind on the DVD (unless you want to call a 2 min. commercial for Copeland's "Antarctica: A Global Warning" book a "bonus feature", as the DVD jacket actually does).I stumbled upon this movie while browsing the documentary section of my local library. So glad that I found this. For another recent documentary with even better jaw-dropping footage, I can instantly and readily suggest you check out "Chasing Ice", dealing with glaciers in Greenland, Iceland and Alaska. Meanwhile, "Into the Cold" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Sebastian Copelands film is an escape from our modern world. When was the last time you did that? Sebastians film hits on three nerves for me. Isolation/solitude, personal/corporate responsibility and beauty. I am grateful to Sebastian for taking this journey so i could experience it through his eyes since there is NO chance i could ever do it on my own. Simply for that, this movie is a MUST see. From the time you see him weighing and packing his gear to the moment he arrives on the North Pole, you can see every moment of his experience. I'm sure condensing that to 90 minutes was difficult enough. You'll leave the film feeling a little more thought provoked on why we are here and our place in this planet.

During a time when our attentions are focused on many different global issues, this film is a welcome reminder that if we do not continue to work on protecting the planet - quite simply - nothing else will matter.So few people have made this dangerous expedition to the North Pole successfully. And nobody has covered it in this way - with such stunning camera work and images. The film allows us to really connect with a part of the planet that is so remote, and largely impossible to truly imagine. Mr. Copeland should be applauded for delivering the chilling Arctic ice cap to us (and so beautifully) in the comfort of our living rooms - so that we may connect with it and appreciate how very valuable it is to the future of humankind.

Sebastian Copeland's disappointing film about his trip to the North Pole on the anniversary of Perry and Henson's first trip there a hundred years before.Visually stunning the film gives a good idea what its like to be alone on the ice. The visuals in this film are amazing and and are the reason the film should be seen.The trouble is that the film is kind of a mess other wise. The film is very much a self love letter to Copeland with narration that is much too purple and self congratulatory. I came to despise the central figure of the film because its all about him.How much is it about him? We get a good look at his life, but at the same time we learn almost nothing about Keith Heger who made the trip with Copeland. Sure he's there, but he's more a body than anything else, its all Copeland. The film also gives almost no background on the original trip of Perry and Henson. It was something that happened and other than a couple of pictures and an odd mention about how they had to walk back and were not helicoptered home (as Heger and Copeland were).There is also way too much talk of climate change. Its clear that there is a problem, but Copeland the director drones on repeatedly about it at every opportunity so that it isn't long before we want to scream "enough". It would be fine if he had managed to work the subject into relevant parts of the narration, but he doesn't with the result it seems out of place. (actually it's like being hit over the head with a toaster).However with all that is wrong with the narrative, there is the images. the images are amazing. The images are the films saving grace. If it wasn't for the spectacular images the film would be a major bust.If you want to see great images that really put you into the arctic you must see this film. Its really clear from the footage that its just Copeland and Heger and no one else. It makes an impression on you that hangs with you in a way nothing else in this film does. (How much better this would have been if Copeland had gone into the Perry and Henson story since he would have single handedly explained what a monumental achievement they had made.) Worth seeing but wait for TV.