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The Flight of the Eagle (Ingenjör Andrées luftfärd)

After Andrée must abort a first attempt in August 1896 to reach the North Pole with the hydrogen balloon Örnen ("the eagle"), he returns from Spitsbergen to Stockholm to prepare for a new attempt the following year. In the wake of this failure, he faces criticism from both societal and scientific circles, openly expressed by expedition participant Nils Ekholm. Andrée dispels all doubts and tirelessly advances plans for another attempt. Ekholm is replaced by Knut Frænkel. The balloon is inspected in Paris at the workshop of Henri Lachambre, while the third expedition member, Nils Strindberg, becomes engaged to his girlfriend, Anna Charlier.

In the summer of 1897, the polar explorers set off again for Spitsbergen, where after some waiting for favorable winds, they manage to launch. However, problems arise soon after, and the journey does not proceed as planned. After a while, the balloon becomes difficult to keep aloft, forcing them to land on the pack ice. The three men are compelled to undertake a grueling trek back over the ice with heavy sledges, which increasingly pushes them to their physical and mental limits. When they finally reach the uninhabited and inhospitable island of Kvitøya, they are nearly at the end of their strength. After Strindberg, exhausted, has died and been buried, Frænkel also loses his life due to an attack by a polar bear. Disillusioned, Andrée remains alone in the barren ice desert.