The facts surrounding the events in this film are readily known, so its a surprise that this film commands the emotional power and profundity that it clearly does, particularly since it employs a much overused docudrama format.
Harrowing and emotionally compelling, this film is a testament to the film maker's choice to be as simple and unflashy as possible with what can only be described as an epic tale of endurance. Not a film about climbing, the film carefully avoids exploration of the reasons why these men climb. The story is about different questions: about what men do, need to do and what they can endure in order to survive.
The choices which are made defy the imagination's attempt to put oneself in a similar place. One can only marvel at the the emotional and physical peaks which Joe Simpson had to scale in order to crawl down from an enormous, freezing Peruvian mountain with a broken leg for four days without food or water. The reenactments are superb; beautifully shot and dynamically performed.
The film also places a question in the mind of the viewer regarding Simon Yates' decision to cut the rope attached to Simpson to avoid being dragged over down the mountain himself. (In fact, the question is answered, not just by Simpson, who claims he would do the same thing, but by the film itself, which seems to agree). It's a film about survival, which is an end in itself. At the conclusion of the film, Simpson's ordeal eclipses Yates', but Yates' agony continues a slow burn long after the film is over. It was the right thing to do (I believe), but how does he live with it? Not easily, apparently.
I was deeply enriched by this film. A powerful, emotionally exhausting and ultimately a positive statement about the capacity for an individual to withstand unfathomable pain and despair, yet still function. The film places this drama quietly within a complex and ambivalent moral question and allows the viewer to find their own way down. The highest recommendation.
Harrowing and emotionally compelling, this film is a testament to the film maker's choice to be as simple and unflashy as possible with what can only be described as an epic tale of endurance. Not a film about climbing, the film carefully avoids exploration of the reasons why these men climb. The story is about different questions: about what men do, need to do and what they can endure in order to survive.
The choices which are made defy the imagination's attempt to put oneself in a similar place. One can only marvel at the the emotional and physical peaks which Joe Simpson had to scale in order to crawl down from an enormous, freezing Peruvian mountain with a broken leg for four days without food or water. The reenactments are superb; beautifully shot and dynamically performed.
The film also places a question in the mind of the viewer regarding Simon Yates' decision to cut the rope attached to Simpson to avoid being dragged over down the mountain himself. (In fact, the question is answered, not just by Simpson, who claims he would do the same thing, but by the film itself, which seems to agree). It's a film about survival, which is an end in itself. At the conclusion of the film, Simpson's ordeal eclipses Yates', but Yates' agony continues a slow burn long after the film is over. It was the right thing to do (I believe), but how does he live with it? Not easily, apparently.
I was deeply enriched by this film. A powerful, emotionally exhausting and ultimately a positive statement about the capacity for an individual to withstand unfathomable pain and despair, yet still function. The film places this drama quietly within a complex and ambivalent moral question and allows the viewer to find their own way down. The highest recommendation.