There's nothing I can really add that hasn't been said by the other two insightful descriptive reviews already other than to reinforce that this is a captivating film, both haunting knowing that is a true story and also as a piece of art from the wonderful director Jan Troell. He truly captures the fallibility and the ingenuity of the human spirit with such high idealism and continued hopes in the face of extreme adversity only to steadily accept the biting reality that the three explorers find themselves in. It's difficult to watch, as we never know more than the characters do. Their dawning is ours too.
What I really wanted to say is how magnificent of an actor Max von Sydow is. Surely one of the world's greatest of all time, certainly between the years 1960 to 2020. There's no one performance that would be a strong standout such a say Al Pacino or De Niro in their hey day; Dog Day Afternoon or Taxi Driver. Simply a consistent workmanlike and yet always totally convincing representation in every single thing he did. Truly a superb body of work over such a long time. And in this film he once again demonstrates just how good he is through subtle expressions. He doesn't ACT. He simply is the character. There's a comparable few.
