All language subtitles for The.Unknown.Life.Of.Antarctica.2019.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

Antarctica is the coldest
continent on earth.

For humans, a hostile terrain.

During the summer, researchers
come here from around the world

to unlock the secrets of the eternal
ice and its inhabitants.

Provision supply is a
masterpiece of logistics.

Even families with children
live here at the end of the world.

The really extreme time
begins with the Antarctic winter.

Even the penguins
have already left.

Yet more than 100 people hold
down the fort in the Antarctic stations.

It will now be dark for months.

The Fildes Peninsula on King
George Island is free of ice in summer.

It is the perfect place for the
Antarctic stations of four countries.

One of them is the Russian
station Bellingshausen.

During the Antarctic summer, a group of German
researchers from Jena is also stationed here.

In the early morning, expedition leader
Dr. Hans-Ulrich Peter

and five young scientists prepare for
a day in the wilderness.

In the Antarctic summer, from December to
February, the sun shines to up to 20 hours a day.

Temperatures hover
around freezing.

The researchers can largely move about
safely in the ice-free areas of the island.

To gather as much data as
possible, the group splits up.

Some head for the penguin
reserve, others for the hills.

And seabirds, known
as south polar skewers.

Marie-Charlotte Röhmler and Christian
Pfeiffer are testing to find out at which

point the use of drones will
become stressful for the penguins.

To do this,
Marie-Charlotte must briefly

take eggs away from
brooding Gen 2 penguins.

They will be protected from the cold
and the skewers during the experiment.

The penguins are
given plastic eggs with

hidden microphones in
place of their own eggs.

As soon as the penguin sits on the
prepared egg, Marie-Charlotte can hear its

heartbeat over the microphone.

Christian prepares the first
drone, a fixed-wing aircraft.

It depends a lot on it.

Christian tests altitudes
of 100 to 10 metres.

The lower he flies, the faster
the penguins' hearts beat.

Starting at 40 metres,
they are noticeably stressed.

The drone causes
excitement in the air, too.

Skewers perceive them
as invasive fellow birds.

For Christian, this
means a quick landing.

Christian now tests a
second drone, an octocopter.

The researchers are not allowed to
enter the protected area without a permit.

They must also keep a certain
distance from the penguins.

Only with an additional
permit for experiments

is Marie allowed to
get really close to them.

For instance, to exchange
the plastic eggs for real ones.

Antarctica is comprised not only of the
white continent and the southern hemisphere,

but everything south
of the 60th parallel.

Off the Antarctic coast lies
King George Island, which is

nearly covered with glaciers,
but has a few ice-free coasts.

For this reason, nine nations
have stations located here.

Brazil, Peru, Poland, Argentina with a
German summer camp, South Korea,

and on the Fildes Peninsula,
China, Uruguay, Chile,

and Russia host to the
German researchers from Jena.

The Chilean Air Force is stationed at the
Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva base.

Commander Sergio Copillos
summons his troops at dawn.

He's only been in Antarctica
a few weeks, and has

recently been promoted
to the rank of commander.

The troops' morale hit a low point
under the previous commander.

Now, it's time to get the
station back into shape.

Sergio Copillos builds
on military polish.

Fifty-four men and two
women report to Sergio Copillos.

They swear an oath of allegiance to
the fatherland, which they have committed

their lives to serving, even
on the seventh continent.

A decommissioned oil
tank and 152 tons of scrap

metal from previous years
are rusting on the beach.

All of it is going to be
shipped to Chile today.

A task like this cannot
be managed alone.

Chen Bo, the commander
of the Chinese station,

assists in moving the
12-ton tank with his crane.

Today, luck is not with Commander
Sergio Cubillos, a snowstorm is forming.

Moving objects weighing tons is one of the
most dangerous challenges in the Antarctic.

Machines can easily tip over on
the sandy ground, crushing limbs.

And evacuation is
impossible during this weather.

The Chileans and the
Chinese keep at it nonetheless.

In the eternal ice, it goes without
saying that nations help one another.

But then ice floats into the
bay, and the oil tank gets stuck

in one of the summer's
worst snowstorms.

The wind reaches 100
kilometers per hour.

The wind-chill temperature
is 25 degrees below zero.

For the German researchers,
this means house arrest.

The researchers use their downtime to
get their equipment ready for its next use.

Nothing else can be done.

The data they've collected will only be
evaluated in Jena, 13,000 kilometers away.

During storms, the researchers are cut
off irrevocably from the rest of the world.

Palladi is the priest in the world's
most southerly Russian Orthodox Church.

He provides pastoral
support when extreme isolation

renders the Antarctic
a psychological prison.

He attempts to give
people strength through

familiar rituals from
their distant homelands.

For instance, with a
great blessing of the waters

in remembrance
of the baptism of Jesus.

Palladi baptizes everything and
everyone in the Russian station.

In this way, even pots, the stove,
the machines and the buildings benefit

from the renewed energy needed
for everyday life in the Antarctic.

Antarctica is the only continent
that does not belong to anyone.

With the Antarctic Treaty
System, more than 50 nations

agreed to the
peaceful use of the region.

But still, many nations
have a permanent presence.

Not least, to secure territorial claims
should the Antarctic pie someday be cut up.

In addition to the research stations on King
George Island, there is a civilian settlement,

Villa Las Estrellas, the Star's Town.

The families of Chilean
officers live here.

This is how four-year-old Sebastian
Castro and his 11-year-old sister, Sofia,

came to be here.

Sofia's appendix was even
removed as a precaution.

Sara Castro also had
her appendix removed.

And she had to prove her mental
fitness in psychological tests.

But to her, the move to the
Antarctic island was worth it.

The only airport is
one kilometer away.

Carlos Castro, the head of
the family, works here as a pilot.

He has become familiar with
King George Island

through countless supply flights
over the course of 15 years.

This is the first time he has
been stationed here permanently.

For all the nations on King
George Island, the Chilean airport

is the umbilical cord
to the outside world.

Fresh vegetables
only come by air freight.

And sick people can
only be evacuated by air.

Carlos pilots a twin otter.

It is considered indestructible
and particularly reliable.

Today, Carlos Castro has
spare parts on board

that are desperately needed
on the Antarctic mainland.

He is heading 140 kilometers
towards the South Pole.

Temperatures hovering around freezing.

and an acute lack of movement.

represent a big
adjustment for the Castro family.

They have to be regularly
checked out in the station's clinic.

Doctor Denise Echeverria
is guiding the family

through a study on
vitamin D deficiency.

She must be versatile, and serves as
an emergency physician, family doctor,

dentist, and pediatrician.

It's Sofia's turn for
a blood test today.

The checkup is meant to
prevent iron or vitamin deficiencies.

Less than five hours after taking off,
Carlos Castro is back on King George Island.

Before he was
stationed in the Antarctic,

Carlos' assignments
often lasted several weeks.

Eating lunch at home
was a distant dream.

The family almost
fell apart because of it.

Antarctica is one of the last
largely intact ecosystems on Earth.

Extreme cold has preserved
the glacial ice for millions of years.

Yet advancing climate change is already affecting
the population of native animal species,

as constant monitoring
by polar researchers has shown.

Rules of behavior apply with
respect to untouched nature.

And exhibition leader Hans-Ulrich
Peter follows them precisely.

Nothing can prepare you
for the attacks by the skuas.

These piratical seabirds
use all possible means

to drive the researchers
from their nests.

Masters student Daniel
Provasnik practices catching them.

To accurately determine the skua population,
the birds are ringed and measured.

The researchers also draw
blood to determine their sex.

The best time for this is
when the skuas have chicks.

Their flying attacks are
especially aggressive then,

which makes
catching them possible.

Daniel has to wait for
just the right moment.

Many researchers have
already been knocked out.

The wound can
easily become infected.

Skuas are hunters
and scavengers.

Their beaks, full of bacteria.

Now Daniel is by himself.

High in the hills
is one more nest.

Daniel has to measure the
chicks to document their growth.

They just hatched ten days ago.

An Antarctic evening
buffet for the whales.

Now, in the summer,
there's a lot of krill.

The whales follow it into the
ice-free bays, close to the stations.

Yet the summer is
coming to an end.

During its last mild days, a strange event
is taking place on King George Island.

The White Continent Marathon.

Newly landed organizer Steve Hibbs from
Minnesota is marking the running course.

For Americans Lisa Davis and Dave
Jones, the marathon on the White Continent

represents the fulfillment
of a very special dream.

This was given to me by my
husband for a birthday present.

Because I completed 50 states, a
marathon in every state, plus DC,

and 100 marathons.

And I wanted to do one
more goal, which was to

complete a marathon on
every continent in seven days.

And this is it. This is the culminating
point. This is what we work for.

Finally here.
It's gonna happen.

This is the start
and finish area.

Well, actually, we have some banners
that will eventually get posted right,

tied up over there.

But we're gonna go out this
way, back to the landing strip.

I was setting up the
cones that would go around.

There are four cones
that would go around.

Everybody turn around
and look at the Chinese base.

Say, hi, Chinese base!

We're gonna keep going
straight towards the Chinese base.

You'll see orange cones
on your left-hand side.

That has never been done before.

So this is the first time in all of the
humans that have ever lived that

seven public marathons, seven
continents, seven days.

We're going to be able to do it.

When this watch says
6-17, the seven days are up.

168 hours is over.

So it says 23.46 right now.

So we've got about
six and a half hours to

get in under seven
days and be the first ever.

Go!

The runners have already
completed six out of seven marathons.

Day one in Australia
at 40 degrees Celsius.

Day two in Singapore
at 100% humidity.

Runs through the chaotic traffic of
Cairo, in Russia, the USA, and Chile.

All that's missing now are
the six rounds in Antarctica.

It's going. It's tough. But it's
fun. I can admit it. It's kind of fun.

It's very challenging.

Lots of rocks.
I've twisted my ankle twice.

But that's okay.

I'm learning as I go.

Some runners dream of setting
Guinness Book World Records.

Yet gravel and snow
make running difficult.

And the cold air
burns the lungs.

Nice job!

Looking good!

Looking good!

Good job!

Looking good!

The steep hills in the middle of the
course are the runner's nightmare.

Insiders call
them the hate hills.

It's all tough.

I'm a big boy.

And nothing's easy about this.

It's all just
self-transcendent.

You just got to
keep fighting it.

Every time you want
to stop, you just don't.

The rocks and the wind, the
hills, they're bearing down on me.

I can feel every step.

I feel every pebble.

I feel every bump in the road.

It's grueling at this point.

And the sad news is I still have
two and a half more laps to go.

Have I mentioned I hate running?

Almost all the runners have
overcome misfortune or illness.

For Dave, too, this is the crowning
achievement of a difficult time.

Good job, Dave!

Good job, Dave!

Come on, Dave!

There it is!
Done deal!

Yeah!

Come on, Dave!

Woo-hoo!

Come and get it, buddy.

You shouldn't be short.

Now I'm done.

Good job.

I was 285 pounds, and I was a
two-pack-a-day smoker in 2012.

And today, here I am.

I've got to get a towel.

Seven continents, seven marathons,
six days, 23 hours, 56 minutes.

And a swim off of Antarctica.

You can do anything
you put your mind to.

Anything.

Yeah!

Go ahead!

Go ahead!

This shows you what you got inside when
everything falls apart, when the wheels

fall off the vehicle, how you get the
vehicle to keep moving, it's in your heart.

This just shows you what
your heart is made of.

I did, I did, I
did, I did, I did it.

It was hard, but
I made it happen.

Yes!

Winter is approaching.

In Billingshausen, the
rusty buildings must be

repaired before meter-high
snow buries everything.

Yet, Russia doesn't provide
much money for repairs.

Igor Tikhonov, the head
mechanic, sometimes despairs.

Corrugated metal
and a couple of wires.

The Russian workmen are
masters at patching things together.

And when the ladder isn't long enough,
an excavator's shovel extends their reach.

The Russian team has been stationed
in the Antarctic for nearly a year.

A year without their families,
a supermarket or vacation.

They're never alone
when they want to be.

Or in company when they need it.

You have to be cut out for this.

Before he gets Antarctic cabin fever,
Igor heads for the Uruguayan station.

They have a drum set there.

Just the thing to let off steam.

It's only five kilometers to
the Uruguayan drum set.

But it's quite an undertaking.

The mud is hellish.

Once you get stuck in it,
you can't get out without help.

Igor is in luck.

A snowcat from the Uruguayan
station heard his radio call for help.

The helpers also
have to watch out.

Many have lost their boots
irretrievably in the morass.

Everyone is aware that you
cannot survive alone out here.

Tequila!

No, vodka!

Together, they head on to
the Uruguayan research station.

Despite the challenges, this is
Igor's fourth time in the Antarctic Circle.

Here, they say he's been
bitten badly by the Antarctic bug.

Igor shares his passion for heavy music
with Commander Gustavo Dalmonte.

It's time for a
few drum lessons.

Precious moments of
diversion from the daily routine.

Take this, all this, all this.

The center.

It's nearly time for the
German researchers to depart.

This means all samples to be sent to the
laboratory in Jena must be carefully packed.

Daniel Provaznik has collected
pellets from the skuas' nests.

They consist of all the indigestible
things the birds swallow and regurgitate.

Daniel mostly finds feathers of penguins
and tern, fish, and bits of krill in them,

but manufactured trash is appearing
in the pellets more frequently.

In March, the final supply
flights land at the Chilean airport.

They bring urgently needed supplies for
the long winter months, when contact with

the outside world will
be nearly impossible.

Commander Sergio Cubillos
personally oversees the unloading.

The survival of his troops
depends on his logistical planning.

All the worse, that this flight contains
less than half the planned provisions.

Priest Palady also prepares for
the long period of winter isolation.

Soon, temperatures will fall to 60 degrees
below zero, and a walk through the hills

will no longer be possible.

The German researchers
and most of the military

take the last plane
back to their homelands.

Only an emergency staff
remains in the stations.

Then, the really
extreme season begins.

Winter in Antarctica.

Antarctic midwinter
nights last nearly 20 hours.

Extreme darkness surrounds the
research stations on the Fildes Peninsula.

With the darkness
comes the cold.

Wind chill temperatures of
60 degrees below zero Celsius.

To combat it, the men of the
Bellingshausen research station turn to a

proven method from
their Russian homeland.

Maksym Sikorsky, the cook, brought
the birch branches from Russia.

They're meant to open They go up in
the pores and get the blood circulating.

They go right into the snow.

To cool off.

This is the first time in Antarctica
for the four men in the sauna.

Each of them had ideas about what kind of
people they'd be spending the winter with.

Anyone who gets sick or
injured must be flown out to Chile.

A particular
challenge in winter.

The twin otter requires exactly five
centimeters of snow on the frozen tarmac

for takeoff and landing.

If there are more, the snow
prevents the aircraft from starting.

If there are fewer, the
plane slides on the ice.

Carlos Castro, the pilot, has discovered
technical defects on the twin otter.

Despite difficult weather,
he must deliver the

plane to Chile and
exchange it for another.

For safety reasons, the twin otter is
always accompanied by a helicopter when it

takes off, which can provide
immediate help in an emergency.

The winter pushes Diego
Escudero to his limits.

The helicopter only accompanies the twin
otter during the critical takeoff phase.

On nearby Nelson
Glacier, the pilots train

for rescue missions in
dangerous white-outs.

They must keep the
overview, even when their

bodies react to disorientation
with extreme stress.

Seven Chilean officers'
families live in Villa Las Estrellas,

the only civilian
settlement on the island.

They import almost daily
routines to the end of the earth.

Every morning, Sofía and Seba Castro pick
up Matías Cubillos, the commander's son.

Twelve-year-old Sofía doesn't always
manage to bring the two little ones to

school on time, even though it's only
one hundred and fifty meters away.

Six children attend the
little Antarctic school.

Five of them are taught together
in the first through third grades.

Sofía is the only
pupil in the fifth grade.

Seba and Matías
don't really belong here.

Since there's no kindergarten,
their teacher, Andrea Carrasco,

started them in
school a year early.

Sebastián?

The children must
learn to get along.

Whether they like
each other or not,

they'll be each other's only
playmates for two years.

As a fifth grader, Sofia gets
serious lessons from Rojas Rivera.

But even now, research stations
are manned by the military.

The ice reaches out nearly
800 meters into the bay.

Penguins have long since
left King George Island.

Only leopard seals, and crab-eater seals,
and snowy sheathbills still hold out here.

Sergio Copillos is the
commander of the Chilean airbase,

he has been stationed in
Antarctica for nearly a year.

He is on his way to the neighboring
Russian station, Berlingshausen.

Commander Igor
Idrisov has a problem.

His 14 men are
often left high and dry.

There's an acute shortage of water, which
both stations pump from a frozen lake.

Of course, they could melt
snow, but that costs energy.

And takes a lot of work.

So it's only viable
in emergencies.

The commanders want to find out how high
the water level under the lake's ice cover

must be, in order to provide
enough for everybody.

Okay.

In the winter, only Vasily Mesera's
bulldozer is suited for heavy loads.

The two men from Uruguay have spent
a cold night in their stranded snow cat.

Manny Rios just wants
to get back to the station.

He gave up trying to repair the
vehicle on site a long time ago.

It's three kilometers to the Uruguayan
station, but with a heavy bulldozer,

the maneuver
takes several hours.

The entrance to the garage
is much lower than the

snow cover, Vasily weighs
the risks of digging around.

Handling heavy machinery is the
greatest accident risk in the Antarctic,

and evacuation is often
impossible for weeks.

In their daily interactions, the nations in
Antarctica work together unconditionally.

Bellinghausen, the Russian
research station, was

founded in 1968 and is
the oldest on the island.

Few resources for repairs have
reached the Antarctic outpost from Russia.

The station is rusting.

The two youngest station members are
Vadim, an oceanographer, and Maxim, a cook.

Maxim is 28 and comes from an
industrial city in northwest Russia.

He never would have believed
he'd make it to Antarctica.

Fourteen people stay through
the winter in Bellinghausen.

Until the scientists return in summer, they
make sure the station doesn't fall apart.

Food comes to
Antarctica once a year.

In April.

By ship.

One of Maxim's tasks as a cook is to
watch over the storage of provisions.

He builds on the wealth of experience
of station physician Vladimir Anferteev,

who has completed 62
Russian Antarctic expeditions.

Especially on the topic of eggs.

Normally, they would
spoil in about two months.

An Antarctic household tip.

As long as an egg is
moved regularly, it won't spoil.

Every three days, it's
time to turn the eggs.

The shelf life of the remaining 1,200
eggs can thus be extended by up to a year.

The gentle snowfall
is deceiving.

A storm warning has been issued.

In Villa Las Estrellas, Sara Castro
immediately picks up her children from school.

In this inhospitable region,

the families have learned to
respect the forces of nature.

Far from civilization, Sara
has found temporary happiness.

She has already been stationed here
with her husband and children for a year.

She can stay one more.

No one knows what effect their
stay will have on the children.

A lack of vitamin D can
make bones and teeth

soft and contribute to
cancer and depression.

Imported bacteria and viruses can
scarcely spread in the extreme cold.

As a result, the body's
immune system weakens.

But what will happen when
the children return to Chile?

On the other hand, family life in
this isolation is particularly intense.

The storm brings a wind-chilled
temperature of 56 degrees below zero

and wind speeds of up to
196 kilometers per hour.

In Billingshausen, too, the great
challenge is to pass the time without

losing your good spirits
for days or weeks on end.

One of them always keeps
watch in 12-hour shifts.

Today, it's Vasily's turn.

Every couple of hours,
Vasily patrols the station.

He's only been here two
winters in the Antarctic.

Last year, he stayed home with
his wife, children and grandchildren.

Despite the 15,000
kilometer distance,

his thoughts were always with
his South Pole machines.

So far, they're running
without any problems.

Vasily notes the pressure and
the water and oil temperature.

Carlos Castro came to
the end of the earth with his

wife and children, so they
could become a family again.

During his routines as a
pilot, he rarely saw them.

Deceleration, time and
togetherness are their goals.

And every little
adventure is a gift.

Another motivation drives
Commander Sergio Cubillos

to hold down the fort on the
most remote post in Chile.

He often sits late at night at
his desk in the headquarters.

He has hardly any
time for his family.

There aren't many carefree
moments for Marcela either.

Whenever it gets a couple
degrees warmer, fog rolls in.

Nevertheless, the Russians
want to get to the

Drake Passage on the west
side of King George Island.

Commander Igor Idrisov
drives ahead on the

snowmobile to scope out
a safe path for the snowcat.

No easy task in the fog.

A review of the situation
takes place in the Artiga station.

The Russians try to agree on
a common radio channel with

the Uruguayan military men
Manny Rios and Gustavo Dalmonte.

But even this presents problems.

Different languages
and meagre English will

make radio communication
even more difficult.

More than 50 nations have signed a
contract to use the only uninhabited

continent on Earth only
for scientific purposes.

There is a great potential for conflict,
since gigantic deposits of raw materials

and almost 80% of the Earth's
fresh water supply are in Antarctica.

What's more, according to climate change
prognoses, Antarctica could be one of the

last inhabitable places
for humans in the future.

The Antarctic Treaty was
concluded for an indefinite period.

Yet the tendency of some
countries to noticeably

increase their presence in
Antarctica cannot be ignored.

For years, nobody has checked
on the Pre-Rhoda shelter.

Its condition is questionable.

A shelter that isn't one can cost lives in
Antarctica, where sudden changes in the

weather make every wilderness
expedition an unpredictable risk.

For years, the expedition participants
have hoped for money from Russia so they

can modernize the
installations on the island.

They haven't seen any yet.

Igor conjures up an effective household
remedy for snow boundness.

At least, so long as
everybody plays by the rules,

and nobody opens the race
for the raw materials.

To keep the peace, the rule is
that they never discuss politics.

South Korea's research station, King
Sejong, is just a few kilometers away.

But the only way to get there is
across the sea, which has been

iced over for months.

Despite their isolation,
stubborn guests have

sneaked in during the
previous summer season.

Biologist Chung Young Kim uses
them for his latest research project.

He picks up a species of
mosquito from a special insect trap.

The mosquitoes are deep
frozen and sent to research

laboratories in South Korea
during the next summer season.

They're probably leaving Antarctica
the same way they got here.

Chung Young Kim is mostly interested in
the introduced mosquitoes because he's

concerned about the other
living creatures entrusted to him.

He's a botanist in the
station's greenhouse.

Song Yong Pak, a cook, adds dried
mushrooms from Korea to transform the

Antarctic vegetables into bibimbap, the
favorite dish of his 17-person winter team.

And not only because it's tasty.

Winter's end is drawing near.

In Billingshausen, the first
penguin has been sighted.

Their inflatable boat freshly patched,
the Russians venture out to sea on their

first tour of the season.

They're headed for Ardley,
the island of penguins, to check

whether the birds have
returned after the long winter.

Vladimir, the skipper, will be
at the rudder for the first time.

But then, the wind changes.

Ice presses around the boat.

Vadim, the oceanographer,
and Vladimir, the

skipper, look for a path
through the dangerous chunks.

Maxim has been allowed
to come along today.

Though, as the cook,
he's irreplaceable.

He has never seen a
penguin in his whole life.

Ardley Island is the summer breeding
ground for thousands of gen 2 penguins.

They spend the
winter on the open sea.

For years, researchers
have tried to determine

exactly when they return
to their breeding grounds.

On King George Island,
this means the winter is over.

But it will take another six months before
the next Russian supply ship takes the men

from Berlingshausen
home to their families.