The race to the North Pole via balloon in the 1890s seems to have had some of the same intensity for Sweden and Norway that the race to the moon had, somewhat later and by way of somewhat swifter vehicles, for the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. To make a Swedish film about one such ill-starred Swedish expedition may likewise involve a good deal of national pride, and the production, for certain, is fanatical in its pursuit of authenticity (photographic documentation of the actual flight, interspersed throughout the film, testifies to that). The Victorian gentlemanliness of the adventurers is quite ingratiating, and some of the details of balloon technology and Arctic survival retain their interest. But not enough so, on either count, to compensate for two hours and twenty-one minutes of general tedium. Directed, co-written, photographed, and edited by Jan Troell; with Max Von Sydow. (1982) — Duncan Shepherd
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