Keyword South Pole Region

The bleakness of Antarctica is a fallacy. The ice continent is full of life and offers a biodiversity of which only about two percent are known. Much of it is under water and could determine the future of human beings. When the northern lights cover the ice landscape in summer, the animals in the Antarctic are in a paradisiacal state. Whales blow their fountains in the sky, penguins fly like small rockets into the water, seals dive for crabs under the glittering ice floes. From the bay of the Ross Sea to the ice shelf, from the huge penguin colonies to steaming volcanoes, a life in rhythm with the ice. But the consequences of climate change are slowly becoming apparent here too. While some species are dying, others are spreading. They could bring new viruses and bacteria with them, and new dangers for humans too. The structure of nature has gotten off course. How many generations will still be able to experience the magic of Antarctica?

In 1989, thirteen GDR scientists and technicians set off from East Berlin to the Georg Forster research station in the Antarctic. During their expedition the Berlin Wall fell on November 9th. Cut off from the images that go around the world, the men can only experience the historical events passively. When they returned in the spring of 1991, their homeland was a foreign country. The documentary reconstructs the thoughts and feelings of the East German researchers on the basis of eyewitness accounts, diary excerpts, letters, film material, grandiose landscape shots from the location of the action and unique photos to make the consequences of the events tens of thousands of kilometers away on the small GDR expedition in the middle of the eternal ice tangible.

In 1989, the German polar explorer Arved Fuchs and the South Tyrolean mountaineer Reinhold Messner set out together to reach the South Pole on skis without sled dogs or motor technology and then cross the entire Antarctic. There are problems right from the start because the onward transport to the starting point by plane cannot be carried out on time. Finally, the adventurers set off from Patriot Hills Base Camp on the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf to the Pole. The completely different character traits of the two men quickly emerge. Messner is impetuous and pushes for speed. The calm Fuchs divides his strength and consistently follows his pace during all planned breaks. On New Year's Eve 1989, the two men are warmly welcomed by the crew of the US Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. But the much larger and more dangerous part of their adventurous continental crossing still lies ahead of them. The 3-part documentary shows one of the last great adventures of modern times in impressive pictures.