The Last Place on Earth

Netflix sez

 

1985 NR 3 discs

In 1911, England's Robert Falcon Scott (Martin Shaw) and Norway's Roald Amundsen (Sverre Anker Ousdal) each set out to be the first to reach the South Pole. The 1,500-mile journey through the forbidding landscape and its aftermath became the stuff of legend. This "Masterpiece Theatre" presentation, based on Roland Huntford's book, reveals the drama behind one of the century's greatest adventures. Hugh Grant, Max von Sydow and Bill Nighy co-star.

The 73rd Virgin sez...

Faithful and expensive recreation of an extraordinarily long and complex book. Yes, it is 6 hours long, and yes, it takes over two hours to get them on the ice, and yes, you even know how it will end. But this is still so entertaining and well done I would recommend to anyone with a decent attention span. You probably knew how Apollo 13 would end, too.

If you fancy yourself an outdoorsman, you will be reminded of the misery of poor planning and leadership. Experts may judge if this treats Scott fairly but it convinced me that the English passion for dying in far away places was enough to doom any mission. Shackleton was a much better leader and a slightly better planner but the British mindset did him in as well. This show finally got BBC out of the drawing room and it is beautifully filmed in terrible conditions on real film rather than fuzzy videotape. Nearly perfect. 5 out of 5 stars.