“To the Arctic,” like the cable series “Frozen Planet” and other films of the type, provides a precious historical record.
At some point in the future, as man-made climate change raises global temperatures and causes the polar ice caps to melt even faster, we will no longer have species like the ones filmed with such care by the team of Greg and Sean MacGillvray. At some point in the future, films such as “To the Arctic” will provide the only visual record of polar bears, caribou and other Arctic fauna that will eventually disappear.
“To the Arctic” makes the point emphatically, following a mother polar bear in her increasingly difficult search for food for her and her twin cubs. The science is simple: The Arctic ice is thawing at an unexpectedly fast rate – but the bears need the ice to hunt seals to survive. Otherwise, males will hunt polar bear cubs, a fact shown to harrowing effect in this film.
This review continues on my website.