Alone
It’s the ultimate test of survival. Each season ten people are dropped into a remote, isolated, uninhabited area with a small amount of gear, a camera, and a mission: try to survive for as long as possible. They’re warned they could be out there for up to a year; across the seven seasons, no-one has lasted much more than three brutal, freezing months.
If you’re looking to see cold, wet and hungry people pushed to their limits and beyond in a struggle with nature (and themselves), this is exactly the series for you.
Unknown Amazon / Aruanas
The Amazon is seen by many as the ultimate untamed wilderness, but as Unknown Amazon makes clear, there’s a big difference between untamed and uninhabited. In this documentary series, New York journalist Pedro Andrade encounters many of the indigenous communities that call the Amazon home, exploring their way of life and their struggles in the face of constant external pressures.It’s a remarkable look at an endangered world – and if you’re after a fictionalised take on the same issues, Aruanas (see below)is a gripping drama looking at how corruption and mining companies are increasingly threatening the Amazon.
Trapped / The Head
The wilderness can be a nice place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to be trapped there. That’s the source of much of the tension in Trapped, where the small Icelandic town of Seyðisfjörður is snowed in just as a ferry enters port and a human torso is discovered in fishing nets. Burly police chief Andri Olafssun (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) is faced with a trapped killer, plus an ever-growing web of deceit and corruption, his own past trauma (his ex-wife is back and she’s brought her new partner with her), and most importantly of all, some truly shocking bad weather. At one stage someone tries to cause an avalanche; it’s a wonder anything is left after that. It almost makes the mystery disappearance of a research team in The Head seem sedate – until team leader Johan Berg (Alexander Willaume) steps outside and you remember the series is set in Antarctica, and a lethal storm is on its way.
Alone: The Beast / Wild Republic
Alone: The Beast gives the Alone format a twist so evil it’s practically genius. Instead of sending the contestants out alone, they’re in groups of three – but now, the only thing they have to keep them alive is one very large, very dead animal. The challenges of trying to preserve and cook “the beast” with no equipment is a serious struggle – having a lot of dead meat around your campsite is not ideal when there are predators around. But it’s trying to work with each other for the 30 days they’re in the wild that often proves to be the real struggle. Wilderness experts are often rugged individualists, and when the weather turns bad and things get rough, three people each used to having their own way do not make for a smooth situation.
Things are even more fraught in German drama series Wild Republic. This eight-part (fictional) series sees a group of young offenders heading into the wilderness of the German Alps, in a 'rehabilitation rather than jail' education program. When a mountain guide dies, the group have to decide what to do: wait for help, or try to escape. Who will make the decisions? Will only the strongest survive?
Alone – the Scandinavian series
Alone is a format that’s natural for the Scandinavian wilderness. No wonder there have been versions from Denmark, Norway and Sweden (though they’re mostly filmed in the wilds of Norway). Unlike the US version, there’s no prize money on offer, just the prestige of being the one who survived the longest. That can be a pretty impressive achievement, as these series often feature contestants who are just regular people, in marked contrast to the survivalist types often found in the US version. There’s a lot of gorgeous (and hostile) scenery to take in as well; at least the contestants can enjoy the view while they shiver next to their tiny fire in the rain.
Tracks
In 1977, 26-year-old Robyn Davidson (Mia Wasikowska) set out to cross Australia from Alice Springs to the West Australian coast by camel. During her nine-month, 2,700 kilometre trip she faced rogue camels, gawking tourists, poisoned water, sacred land she wasn’t allowed to cross alone, regular visits from National Geographic photographer Rick Smolan (Adam Driver) and days and days of very empty desert. In this part drama, part travelogue, all true story, director John Curran takes full advantage of some amazing outback scenery. Combined with a striking performance from Wasikowska, the result is a visually stunning look at one woman’s burning desire to, well, basically just be left alone.
Tracks is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
The Beach
What happens when nature isn’t the real enemy? Holed up in a rusting shack on a beach in Jilirr, on the Dampier Peninsula in remote north-western WA, Australian filmmaker Warwick Thornton (Samson & Deliah, Sweet Country) sets out to find himself while living off the land. His only companions: three chooks, who don’t seem all that keen to start laying eggs. For Thornton, survival has its ups and downs, though he definitely knows his way around a kitchen (segments of this six-part series could have come out of a cooking show). It’s reflecting on his past and his previous struggles with mental health in a setting that provides no real distractions that proves to be his real challenge.
You can also catch two Warwick Thornton films now streaming at SBS On Demand, and :
Abandoned / Abandoned Places
Sometimes in the endless struggle between humanity and nature, humanity gives up. In Abandoned, skateboarder Rick McCrank visits (and often skates on) the many sites across North America where humanity has failed to make a go of it. Everything from abandoned schools to empty missile silos and failed malls are explored in all their crumbling splendour. Abandoned Places takes the same concept to Europe, but with more melancholy results. Ruins are always places that inspire contemplation, but these crumbling Eastern European power plants and Soviet-era infrastructure are both awe-inspiring and alien, feeling more like relics from another world.
Expedition with Steve Backshall
“It has been my life’s work to assemble these expeditions; 30 years of questions, scribbled words in tatty notebooks, assembling a crew of superhuman friends who can achieve the impossible,” says Steve Backshall of this series, which sees the BAFTA-winning adventurer and naturalist venture into uncharted territory in pursuit of new discoveries and world firsts. It’s also a chance for viewers to understand more of the planet we live on. The two seasons see Backshall explore a cave system in the Yucatan jungle, explore the Arctic – at the most volatile and dangerous time of year – the spring melt, visit a desert in Oman and travel to the Djangart mountains of Kyrgyzstan in search of snow leopards, where success could help protect this remote range.
Two seasons of Expedition with Steve Backshall (also known as Planet Expedition in some markets) are streaming . Start with season 1:
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