Against the Ice is a 2022 historical survival film directed by Peter Flinth and written by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Joe Derrick, based on the true story recounted in Two Against the Ice by Ejnar Mikkelsen. It stars Coster-Waldau, Joe Cole, Charles Dance, and Heida Reed. The film was shot in Iceland and Greenland. Against the Ice premiered at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival on February 15, 2022. It was released on Netflix on March 2, 2022, and received mixed reviews from critics.
In 1909, Danish explorer and Captain Ejnar Mikkelsen organizes an expedition in Shannon Island, East Greenland, to recover the records of the missing members of the ill-fated Denmark expedition. After his first try is unsuccessful, the only volunteer to accompany him on his second attempt is engineer Iver Iversen while the rest of the crew stays behind.
Mikkelsen and Iversen lose two of their sled dogs in their first few days. Later, they fight and kill a polar bear. One day, the explorers find records disproving the existence of the Peary Channel, leaving the United States with no claim in the Arctic. After a few months, Mikkelsen and Iversen return to Shannon Island and learn the rest of the crew have returned home, leaving them stranded on the island. The two men stay in a cottage for two winters, almost losing their sanity in the process, before being rescued in 1912.
An epilogue reveals Mikkelsen married Naja Holm a year later while Iversen never set foot in the Arctic again.
OFFICIAL TRAILER
Cast
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Captain Ejnar Mikkelsen
Joe Cole as Iver Iversen
Charles Dance as Minister Niels Neergaard
Heida Reed as Naja Holm
Gísli Örn Garðarsson as Carl H. Jørgensen
Sam Redford as Lt. Vilhelm Laub
Þorsteinn Bachmann as Georg C. Amdrup
Diarmaid Murtagh as Georg Poulsen
Frankie Wilson as Carl Unger
