Genre: Adventure/Drama
Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: Wyatt Allen
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, George MacKay
Plot: November 1910 in Lyttelton, New Zealand. Lots of supplies and equipment are loaded on a ship called „Terra Nova“. Captain Robert Falcon Scott (Ralph Fiennes) monitors everything and reminds everybody that this is the last stop they plan to make. Scott wants to be the first man to reach the south pole and assembled a team of explorers, former marines and scientists on his ship. While trying to get on board of the ship a drunken Edgar Evans (Charlie Hunnam) falls into the water and people have to help him get out. Some of the crew is angry because of Evans‘ unprofessionalism and want to leave him in New Zealand but Scott has a very high opinion of him and wouldn’t let it happen. The Terra Nova is filled with living animals, laboratory instruments and books and leaves Lyttelton on November 26, 1910.
A heavy storm in December makes things difficult for the crew almost causing the Terra Nova to sink. The ship fills itself with water and Captain Scott tells everybody around him to grab a bucket and to scoop up the water. They lose some of the animals, tons of coal and also petroleum but make it out of the storm. Shortly after that they reach the southern drift ice and get trapped in it. Scott remains calm and tells his crew they just have to be patient. Still being unable to move after a week Scott starts to get nervous too, because they lose too much time . After 20 days they are finally able to make it out of the drift ice and can proceed to move south.
They arrive at Cape Evans and prepare a house on the edge of the ice for the winter. The house is filled with everything they could wish for so they can prepare their trip with the best conditions possible.
The plan is to wait for the summer months in December and January so they could perfectly make use of every bit of sunbeam they might get. Scott is sure that the difference in temperature in the summer months will have a huge impact on them and scientist Edward Wilson (Jude Law) agrees with him. A guard is placed in a watchtower in which he measures the sunrays so he can phone them when it’s time to start.
In the meantime everybody is looking for something meaningful to do. Scientist and physician Edward Wilson examines stone samples while former army officer Lawrence Oates (Nicholas Hoult) trains the Siberian ponies. Every evening there are presentations comparable to university courses where one of the scientists shares his research with the others. To toughen up they make day trips all around their camp which gives them alot of experience. One day a group of people returns with bad news. They tell Scott that they are not the only ones here. They found the camp of Norwegian Roald Amundsen and his crew and it‘s 110 kilometers closer to the south pole than their camp. Now they know they are not the only ones trying to reach the south pole.
Scott gathers the whole group in one room to explain their plan. They want to push forward with the whole group of people so they can bring as much supplies with them as possible. The plan is to set up depositories where they store everything they need so they can use them on their way back. Everytime they set up one, a group of people returns to Cape Evans until only a few of them are left. These few people left will be writing history as the first humans to reach the south pole, Scott is telling them. One of the scientist raises his hand and asks Scott how he decides who the the few remaining will be. But Scott tells him he honestly doesn’t know, it will probably depend on who seems more fitter but first they have to make it really far to even have this discussion.
The time has finally come as the phone in their camp rings and the guy in the watchtower reports the first appearance of the sun in months. They quickly make their last preparations before finally starting their expedition.
Motorized sledges are pushing forward, followed by Siberian ponies and dogs. Every other day they set up a small depository filled with clothes, food and the most important thing petroleum. Together they try to leave as much freight as possible in the depositories. The group gets smaller as they progress southward and Scott sends people back home as planned. Some of them decide to stay at the house they prepared their trip in and others returned home to Britain. Even though a lot of things go as they planned it, there still are some misfortunes. The motorized sledges break down under those extreme conditions and they decide to leave them behind. The ponies are also having a hard time to adjust to the conditions and some of them don’t make it.
The concerns are increasing as they cover less and less kilometer per day. The crew feels badder every day suffering from frozen limbs and snow blindness. They have to shorten the ponies‘ food again until they break down. Wilson is sure that they don’t make it very far and suggest they kill them so they don’t have to suffer. Oates doesn’t want to hear any of it, he knows his ponies will make it. Scott pulls him to the side and tells him to take a close look at them, which he does. They all look extremely exhausted almost as if they were already dead. After taking a deep breath Oates agrees to killing the ponies. And so they killed all of them creating a place that looks like a slaughterhouse.
Ten people are left as they arrive at the Farthest South the most southerly latitude reached by explorers. This is the time for the last five people to go back. Scott is looking at the faces of the remaining nine people, trying to decide who he wants to take with him for the last kilometers. Taking Lieutenant Evans with him is a no-brainer for Scott as he is not only the person he trusts the most but also one of the fittest person in the whole crew. Chief scientist and physician Wilson also is an easy choice for Scott to take with him. The last two people he takes with him are Henry Bowers (George MacKay) and Lawrence Oates mostly because of their experience in earlier expeditions. The other five people who will not come with them are sad but they respect Scott’s decision. They all shake hands and wish each other luck and then Scott, Evans, Wilson, Oates and Bowers continue to move south.
Scott steadily reports to them how many kilometers they still have to go. When there finally are only 50 kilometers left there mood starts to brighten up as there goal seems in reach. The next morning they even start their trip earlier than usual and cheerfully march through the white desert. Suddenly Bowers gets really anxious as he sees a small dark spot in the distance. Everyone of them probably has the same assumption but nobody speaks it out loud. They try to calm themselves down. Evans tells them it just might be a reflection while Wilson says it could just be a crack in the ice. They get closer and closer and the thing nobody wanted to say out loud just seems to be true. The Norwegians lead by Amundsen were faster than Scott and his crew. Only a couple kilometers before their goal they find traces of sled runners, lots of footsteps from dogs and an abandoned camp. Lastly a Norwegian flag breaks any last doubt they still had. They are too late.
The south pole, uninhabited since thousand of years, will be reached twice in a short amount of time and Scott and his crew will probably be just a month late to write history. All five of them are devastated and Scott is furious. He screams that all the effort all the torture they had to go through was worthless. They spend the night at the camp even though all of them are completely tired, not one of them can sleep well. Nonetheless they get started on their last march to finally reach the south pole. The atmosphere is pretty bad and nobody makes an effort to brighten up the mood. All of them know they just missed their chance to participate in history as the first people to reach the south pole.
They finally reach the south pole and Scott shockingly notices that the south pole is nothing special. Monotonous just like everything they saw on their way here. The only thing that stands out is Amundsen’s tent with the Norwegian flag next to it which Scott stares at like a man who is possessed. He finds a letter in which Amundsen asks the founder to bring it to the Norwegian King. They stick the Union Jack next to Amundsen’s sign of victory quickly before they start to make their way back.
It doesn’t get easier, rather the opposite is the case. On their way back they can’t rely on their compass and have to be careful to not lose their own track so they don’t miss any depositories. Every mistake leads to death. The five of them feel very bad. The weather is horrible even worse than before. All that wouldn’t stop Wilson to do his research as he drags 16 kilograms of different rock types on his sledge with him. He is telling his demotivated comrades that he found sea plants and tree fossils that proof that the Antarctic once was a warmer place but even though they are congratulating Wilson for it, it’s obvious they don’t share the same type of enthusiasm for his discovery.
In a moment of inattention Edgar Evans falls into a crevasse where he hits his head. After helping him out Wilson thinks he might have sustained a serious concussion and tells the others that they all have to keep an eye on him.
Their feet are destroyed and their body starts to fail them. Every depository gets harder to reach. Edgar Evans who is considered to be the strongest and fittest of the whole team starts to talk gibberish and has a wild-look in his eyes. The others are sure he is getting crazy. Wilson takes a look at him and is sure he won’t last long out there and they have to reach the next depository as quick as possible. They load him on a sledge and do their best to increase the pace but it’s already too late for Evans and he dies shortly before they reach the place where they killed all their ponies. They don’t have much time to grieve but bury his corpse under the snow.
The remaining four marsh to the next depository which turns out to be a big disappointment because there is not enough petroleum which means they can only heat sparingly. Oates is the next person they have to be worried about. His frozen toes are making it hard for him to walk. When they arrive at the next depository and there is not enough petroleum again, there situation even worsens. Oates is becoming more and more of a burden. Everything takes longer because of him and he knows he could be the one dooming the group.
While they sit in their camp in the morning waiting for a storm to pass by, Oates suddenly stands up and says „I am just going outside and may be some time“. Everyone, including Oates, knows that he will not survive but nobody says anything or tries to stop him. Oates leaves the camp honorably facing his death.
Thanks to Oates‘ sacrifice the remaining crew can now move on faster. Three tired and weakened humans drag themself through the endless icy desert. Every depository is just another disappointment. Not enough petroleum, not enough heat. Before they reach the next and also largest depository the „One Tone Depot“ they wait in a tent because a blizzard makes it impossible to move forward. They stay for some days and their supplies start to come to an end as the fuel is already used up and the temperature is -40°C. After eight days they know nothing will save them and so they decide to spend their last days in the tent, waiting for their death.
Scott thanks his comrades for sacrificing everything for this expedition and tells them how proud he is of everyone of them. They might not have been the ones who won the race but he is sure there courage and enthusiasm will inspire many others.
Captain Scott uses his last moments to write letters to his loved ones with his frozen fingers. He writes to his wife, his friends and among others the English nation. He writes that he doesn‘t regret anything and asks them to care for the bereaved. Scott, Wilson and Bowers freeze to death while laying in each others arms.
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