The claim of being “based on a true story” never fails to persuade me to watch a film. 

That factor, along with a historical context that I also gravitate towards, encouraged me to press play on the movie Against the Ice—a decision I wouldn’t come to regret. 

In order to practice complete transparency, I will say that the beginning of this film didn’t set a tone of high hopes. As most movies do, the intrigue of this film took a dip in order to create background; however, once this context was established, the film entered a level of intricate and enchanting storytelling.

The movie follows two men, Ejnar Mikkelsen and Iver Iversen, portrayed by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Joe Cole as they traverse through Greenland in order to prove that it is one big island rather than two as it was previously perceived . Stories such as these are traditionally very difficult to tell as they hold little opportunity to break up content and keep audiences engaged; however, director Peter Flinth handles this challenge admirably. 

The scenes in the film were strung together beautifully, and the development of the character was by far my favorite aspect of this work of art. The movie takes place over a span of three years, and the men do an excellent job of portraying that time. Their relationship also experiences a shift in power over the course of the film as the captain begins to lose sanity and his apprentice steps up. This movement was accomplished excellently and naturally. 

To speak more on the actor’s performances, they did excellently with the direction and emotional range they were given. At certain points, they had to portray a lot of emotion very subtly rather than dramatically, something incredibly difficult. They accomplished this task seemingly effortlessly through their body language and eyes. 

No matter how talented the actors in this movie may have been, the most breathtaking aspect of the film was the jaw-dropping scenery of snow-covered mountains and ice caps. Throughout viewing the film, I genuinely found myself pressing pause in order to fully appreciate and take in the beauty of Greenland and Iceland, the locations in which the movie was filmed.

With the main theme of the movie being “man vs. nature,” I didn’t at all expect the emotional developments and plot twists that ended up occurring. The course of the film altered completely from what I had expected it to and did surprisingly well with stretching the bounds of fairly limited content to be entertaining and intriguing. The rawness that this movie completely differentiated it from any other typical survival story.

I truly couldn’t recommend this movie enough. The story was told in such a way that both educated me on history and a story I never even knew occurred while simultaneously providing me with an entertaining and engaging plot that kept me glued to the screen. If you’re looking to watch something that isn’t mindless and meaningless, Against The Ice will provide that to you.