The Endurance - Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition is an excellent documentary about the trouble, the travails and the remarkable survival of the men during the 22 month ordeal. It covers quite skillfully the daily routine they devised, the troubles they encountered, Shackleton's significant leadership skills and the ultimate survival they achieved as they attempted to get to land and get help.

The subject alone is fascinating and the numerous diaries by the men and first hand account by Shackelton (who wrote a book about the expedition titled 'South') would alone make a good documentary. But what propels this documentary to the next level is the fact that it has plenty of the actual film footage and photography of the expedition done by Frank Hurley. Each image has a ghostly black and white quality and the grainy, sepia toned film footage brings the entire episode into the realm of myth.

Most of the information comes from Caroline Alexander's book of the same title and she wrote the narration. But it is filmmaker George Butler who brings it all to life by weaving in the Hurley footage with still photographs, drawings, paintings as well as recreations of some of the events. He also includes interviews with surviving family members, vintage radio interviews with some of the original crew and voice-over actors reading diary entries by some of the men. And to lead us through the voyage is narration provided by Liam Niasson.

Video:
The DVD looks excellent. Much of the Hurley footage has sepia and black and white tones and, obviously, looks its age but has been restored by the British Film Institute. The rest of the film both on location in the Antarctic looks great and the talking head interviews look good.

Audio:
The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and sounds excellent. There are many voice-overs as well as an ethereal, foreboding soundtrack, which uses a full dynamic range. There is also a soundtrack only track also which sounds excellent.

Extras:
There are a good amount of extras on the DVD. They include a commentary track by George Butler, which is pretty good. In it George gives the viewer a little history and imparts the wisdom he learned from the making of the documentary. The other extras are short documentaries all of which are good additions to the film. First up is The Tale of the Endurance a 16 minute roundup by Caroline Alexander of the expedition. It takes an intellectual approach to Shakelton's skills as a leader although it doesn't really add anything new as far as facts are concerned. Next up is In the Wake of Shakelton, which is a good 17 minute short on the making of the documentary. George Butler provides voice over and tells us what the work that went into his own expedition to the South Pole and what they encountered while filming. Next is Iconic Images an 11 minute interview with Frank Hurley's twin daughters who recount the work of their father. Both are elderly but very articulate and charming. The final extra is Past and Present a 10 minute short which covers the gathering of the decendants of the surviving family at a Hurley photography exhibit. This section could have been longer and provided more interviews but it is of interest – mainly for some of the comments by the family members. There is also a trailer available and closed caption available on everything in the disc.

Overall:
Endurance is an excellent documentary in all categories. Besides being a gripping subject it is well researched with a mixture of original 1914 footage, photographs along with first hand accounts read by voice over. At once heroic, miraculous, tough and poignant the documentary is highly recommended for anyone interested in outdoor adventures, survival tales and documentaries that deal with the triumph of the human spirit. The DVD has a fine amount of extras, which adds a nice bonus of facts and information to the documentary.