Man from the woods
 

Watching a documentary about Abraham Lincoln.

How a man from the woods becomes first an idealistic leader, then thrust into horrific conflict, finally giving his life for his deepest held beliefs that all men are created equal, is a pattern for greatness.

We Americans are not strangers to tragedy and triumph walking hand in hand...

(So goes most of human experience throughout the ages...)

I wonder if that's the same (PBS) documentary I saw, six hours long. It was excellent and I taped it....

Another movie that's been on PBS and is now in theaters is The Endurance, a documentary about Sir Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated 1914-1916 Antarctic expedition in the ship of that name.

I'd already seen it on Nova a couple of years ago but saw it on the big theater screen the other day and it was even more impressive. Most of the film's footage was actually shot, either on movie film or as stills, during the expedition itself.

The story of how the men got stranded on an ice floe and after several months were rescued and taken back to safety by Shackleton without a single life being lost, makes me wish for some words beyond heroism and nobility. Not just for Shackleton, but for every member of the expedition. These old eyes had tears in them at a couple of points.

If you are ever cycling through the Dingle Peninsular in Ireland, take a stop at the South Pole pub in Annascaul.

It was run by Tom Crean, a veteran polar explorer who accompanied Shackleon on his 800mile boat ride through the S Atlantic to South Georgia, traversed the unclimbed peaks of the Island and slid down the other side on a coilled rope.

Its full of memorabilia from his expeditions, and the food and drink are pretty good.

I have not heard of this film being in theatres, but I would love to see it.

Last January, while on a bus enroute to a winter camping school in northern Minnesota, we watched an old silent film about The Endurance. It was made just a few years after the event with all of the footage the crew had shot. It was fascinating. Oddly appropriate to wathc on that trip too, considering out destination.