Antarctic Journal (2005)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2005
	Director: Pil-Sung Yim (Doomsday Book)
	Actors: Kang-ho Song (The Host, Memories of Murder), Ji-tae Yu (Oldboy), Hee-soon Park
	Country: ROK
	Genre: Adventure, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 15.07.2013, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: A team of Korean explorers are on their way to the southern inaccessibility pole, the furthest point from any coastline in Antarctica (see its interesting story on the Wikipedia page). They find the journal of a British expedition from 1922 and then start to experience stange events.
Review: I have had this DVD for years on my shelf, I bought it in France because at that time it was only available there. It was supposed to be a kind of korean The Thing, quite original at that time, and starring the excellent actor Kang-ho Song. The approach to Antarctica in this movie is actually very different from the one of John Carpenter's 1980 classic. Here we focus more on the psychology of a group of men crossing the harshest environment on Earth with no shelter and nothing else than what they have on their sledge. Technology has evolved and they have radio, GPS and Emergency beacons, but such an adventure is still as hard as it was in the 1920's. The constant parallel with the 1922 expedition is a reminder of that. The feeling of isolation is very well rendered I found and the viewer doesn't get scared because some monster is jumping at the screen, but because he fears for the explorers to get lost in the middle of the vast White continent. This reminded me of an article I have recently read in the magazine National Geograpic, relating an Austalian polar expedition at the beginnig of the 20th century. The second half of the movie is unfortunately too long and over-explained like often in Asian movies.
Rating: 6 /10