I was interested, because I have the CD of the lovely (Vangelis) score.
The movie is based upon the story of a Japanese Antarctic expedition, which wound up abandoning their sled dogs. The expedition members returned the next year, and found only two of the dogs alive.
Amazon has the flick, but it is expensive ($55.00)-is it worth it?
Also, how would husky dogs survive an antarctic winter? What would they be abale to find for food? Sounds like a miracle to me-even shelted would be a problem.
I saw it here in the US when it first came out, subtitles and all. It made me cry. Granted I was pretty young at the time, but from what I remember if I had watched it for the first time at my present age it would still have made me cry. I remember the names of the last survivors, but I won’t spoil it posting them here.
The score is indeed stunning. Somewhere in storage I have a cassette of the soundtrack with liner notes entirely in Japanese; evidently there wasn’t an English-language version available yet when I bought it.
I’d like to see the movie again but $55.00 is too expensive for me. IIRC the dogs scrounged fish to survive (but watch out for for shifting ice… noooo! Poor doggie! 
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