'Alone Across The Arctic' A Review

Alone Across The Arctic is a documentary about explorer Adam Shoals and his 4000 km journey across the Canadian Arctic, alone, by canoe and on foot. Mostly shot by Shoals himself the movie opens on his preparation filmed by a crew than once he disembarks filmed only by him. Shoals trudges and paddles through bleak and beautiful landscapes mercilessly pushing forward to outrun the winter. His body reflects the physical tole but Shoals is so focused, so driven, there is very little reflection.

An impressive and fascinating journey unfolds in footage that could use more variety, Shoals for the most part does testimonials in his tent and attaches go-pros to his canoe, that's mostly it, it's repetitive. But he is clearly working hard and under a time constraint and some of the recurring shots help to underscore both the beauty but also the tedium of the endeavor. He doesn't seem to particularly miss his family or normal food or civilization at all. The expedition elicits very little introspection in anyway, he comes across signs of hikers who have died along the same or a similar journey and talks briefly on mortality, he comes across abandoned gear and has a comment about the outdoor adage Leave No Trace, but overall Shoals is totally, exclusively in the moment. And in order to survive, in order to succeed he probably has to be.

Impressive and stunning but mostly devoid of emotion.

Currently streaming on Amazon.

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