Watching Podvig vo l'dah - A cold, messy, and real rescue story

Is this worth watching today? If you like history or just want to see what a real ice-breaker looks like when it's working, then yes. If you need a fast-paced plot with actors you recognize, you're probably going to be bored out of your mind.

It’s called Podvig vo l'dah, or "Heroic Deed Among the Ice." It’s a silent movie from 1928 and it’s basically a rescue mission caught on film. 🚢

The whole thing follows the ship Krasin as it goes out to find the crew of the Italia airship that crashed in the Arctic. It’s not a fancy production.

The cameramen who were actually on the ship didn't really have a script or a plan. They were just pointing their cameras at things while trying not to freeze their fingers off. ❄️

Later on, these two guys named Georgi and Sergei Vasilyev took all that messy, raw footage and tried to turn it into a story. This was their first big project together before they got famous for other things.

It’s honestly kind of a miracle it works as well as it does. You can tell they were figuring it out as they went.

The way the ice breaks is the most satisfying part of the whole movie. *Crunch.*

You see these massive slabs of white just giving way under the ship’s weight. It feels heavy and dangerous.

There is this one shot where the water starts bubbling up through the cracks in the ice. It just stays with you for some reason.

It looks like the ocean is trying to breathe through a straw. It's weirdly beautiful in a scary way.

The editing gets super fast in some parts. People call this the "Soviet montage" style in film school, but here it just feels like a heartbeat.

It’s a bit frantic. Like the movie is as stressed out as the sailors were.

I read that all the editing notes from the Vasilyevs actually survived. That is pretty wild because the movie itself is partially lost now.

It’s like having the recipe for a cake but half the actual cake fell off the table and disappeared. 🍰

I wish we could see the whole thing. The bits that are left are so intense and quiet.

You really feel how alone they were out there. Just white and grey everywhere you look.

It makes you want to go grab a sweater even if it’s ninety degrees outside while you're watching it.

I was thinking about Der müde Theodor while watching this. Mostly because that's a movie about a tired guy and these guys must have been exhausted.

But this isn't a comedy. It’s just survival. Pure, cold survival.

The ship Krasin is actually still around, by the way. It’s a museum ship in St. Petersburg now.

I’d love to stand on the deck of that thing and think about those cameramen. They didn't have heated jackets or digital screens.

They just had giant wooden boxes and a dream of not dying in the snow.

The movie doesn't try to be pretty or perfect. It’s gritty and the film grain is thick.

The smoke from the ship is this deep, ugly black color against the pure white snow. It looks like a scar on the landscape.

It’s a bit messy in places. Some shots feel like they belong in a completely different movie.

But that’s why I liked it. It feels real.

It’s not polished like a Hollywood adventure. It’s just a record of something that actually happened to real people.

The crew of the Italia must have been so relieved to see that black smoke on the horizon. Even if the movie is broken and missing pieces, you still get that feeling.

It’s a strange experience watching something that has gaps in it. You end up filling in the blanks with your own head.

Anyway, if you can find a copy of the fragments, give it a look. Just for the ice.

The ice is the real main character here. And it's a terrifying one. 🧊

I hope more of it turns up in an attic somewhere one day. Until then, the bits we have are enough to make you appreciate central heating.