AllMovie

For many, it marked one of the last Holy Grails of late 20th century earthbound exploration: the elusive goal of traversing the Arctic Ocean via the North Pole and using that path to make one's way from Russia to Canada. Though long-deemed close to impossible, in the late 1990s four explorers (two Russians and two Slovaks) dared to take a valiant stab at it. They began making their way across the tundra, sans any aviation support, and started at the Severnaya Zemlya - itself regarded as a particularly lethal spot, widely known for its polar bears and debilitating drift. Exactly two and a half months (75 days) later, on May 8, 1998, the men finally reached the North Pole - but that only marked the beginning. They would soon be forced to counter such obstacles as massive drifts, wildly unpredictable weather, and vast expanses of territory sans any visible land, with only water in view. The nonfiction film 118 Days in Captivity of Ice relays this amazing and harrowing tale as it initially unfolded.