Against the Ice review – plodding Arctic survival story

An explorer’s bid to prove that Greenland belongs to the Danes proves a tough haul in this glacial adventure set in 1909

Captain Ejnar Mikkelsen (co-writer Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) has decided to risk his life for a piece of paper. The year is 1909 and the bearded explorer is determined to retrieve a map that proves the territory of Greenland belongs to his native Denmark, and not America. The only problem is, he must cross thousands of miles of ice to get it. He needs a buddy; engineer Iver (Joe Cole) is the only one of his crew who volunteers to accompany him on a months-long journey that one lad describes as the equivalent of “walking from Moscow to Rome”.

There is about as much jeopardy as you’d expect from an action thriller about an obscure land dispute; a tense encounter with an angry polar bear and a phantom hot air balloon are highlights during the endless plodding across the frozen wilderness. Title cards appear on screen to indicate the rapid passing of time, but discovering it’s day 132 and we’re only 40 minutes in only slows the pace.