Southern Discomfort –  South – 2013 Kilruddery Film Festival – Review

“Presenting a wonderful and true story of British pluck, self-sacrifice and indomitable courage displayed by a small party of men”

Ernest Shackleton’s celebrated failed Antarctic exploration of 1914-1916 is the subject of South, a 1920 documentary comprised wholly of footage from the expedition, which was shown recently at the 3-day Kilruddery Film Festival.

The film was accompanied by live piano and flute from Stephen Horne, who has made a somewhat unique career out of accompanying silent films. In an age of remixes and remakes, South is a truly original piece and watching it in the setting of Kilruddery House was a different way, perhaps the right way, to take in the movie.

The film documents the sailing and subsequent fate of the Endurance, when she became ice-bound in the Wendell Sea, stranding Shackleton and his crew of 22 men (including Tom Crean) & 70 dogs on pack ice, 300 miles from land.

The story reaches a dramatic peak with the trapping and sinking of the ship itself. There are some incredible shots of the stricken ship, lit at night, frozen stiff in a tumble of ice. Thereafter it somewhat inexplicably documents sea life in the Antarctic, with 20 minutes of lighthearted footage of sea lions and penguins. However, photographer Frank Hurley had to dump most of his plates in order to stay alive. So a comfortable audience sitting in a beautifully converted orangerie a century later can forgive this strange arc.

John O’Reilly, Director of the nearby Shackleton Exhbition (in the Ferry Terminal in Dun Laoghaire until November 2014) also reminded the audience, in a useful introduction, that though we may have been schooled in world fauna through decades of watching David Attenborough, the audience for South would have viewed such footage with genuine wonder.

The drama of what followed the stranding of the party, namely an 800-mile journey to seek help and months of isolation on the remote Elephant Island, is not treated in South. The survival stories of adventurers such as Shackleton, Scott and Crean have recently been the subject of much attention in various books and film, usually offered as muscular, rugged individuals from whom we can absorb something meaningful. Happily a film such as South dispenses with treatment. It offers an imperfect record of a journey, with some truly breathtaking footage, particularly of the early voyage, and is unashamedly of its time. The film remains as century-old evidence of a great journey, a shred of the past, deepened and dignified by the live accompaniment.

Review by Edward Melvin

A clip from South can be seen here:

http://bfi.muvies.com/reviews/174-south-sir-ernest-shackleton-s-glorious-epic

The Kilruddery Film Festival wrapped up last Sunday. It’s becoming an annual end-September event though, featuring classic and silent movies in a unique setting. Kilruddery House itself regularly plays host to various exhibitions, events and live music and is less than 10 minutes drive south of Bray.

Kilruddery Film Festival 2013 here.

South (BFI online stream, €3.49):

Music from Stephen Horne here.

Shackleton Exhibition, Dun Laoghaire: