Touching the Void (2003)

Director:

Kevin Macdonald

Writer:

Joe Simpson (book)

Release Date:

12 December 2003 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary | Adventure | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

The closer you are to death. The more you realize you are alive.

Plot:

The true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.

Plot Keywords:

Rope | Disaster | Crevasse | Broken Leg | Delirium

Awards:

5 wins & 7 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Thur. Jan. 7

4:00 AM

PBS

Cast

Brendan Mackey	...	Joe Simpson
Nicholas Aaron	...	Simon Yates
Richard Hawking	...	Himself
Joe Simpson	...	Himself
Simon Yates	...	Himself
Ollie Ryall	...	Richard Hawking

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Germany:12 | Netherlands:MG6 | Singapore:NC-16 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France

Company:

Darlow Smithson Productions

Trivia:

Also at the end of the movie, another line claims that the route opened by Simon and Joe has never been repeated. This is also partially incorrect. Political unrest in the area (because of Sendero Luminoso activities) prevented climbers to reach Siula for many years. However, in 1999, Carlos Buhler, one of the most talented US alpine-style climbers, repeated the route with a companion, Mark Price. In the upper half of the face (the one covered by Joe and Simon in their last day on the West face), Buhler/Price continued directly upwards on steep mixed ground where Yates/Simpson had moved right, over an ice rib, and into the huge, right slanting gully fanning open towards the top. This route led directly to what arguably was the true summit, a point that appears higher than the southern tip of the ridge. This new direct variant (humorously named "Avoiding The Touch") led straight up to this summit, and was more technically difficult but safer. Once on top of the peak, they left their rucksacks and traversed on easy terrain along the airy ridge to the south until they stood on the point Simpson/Yates considered the top, the point where the ridge dropped off very steeply towards Siula Chico. They then retraced their footsteps back to their first "summit" and continued northwards along the same ridge that Simpson/Yates had descended. However, after descending several hundred horizontal meters and enduring a sixth bivouac (on this airy ridge) Buhler/Price decided to rappel directly down the West Face instead of continuing North along the very exposed and corniced ridge. After 20 sixty meter rappels, they rappelled over the bergshrund about 2-300 meters north of where Joe had been dropped into the bergshrund when Simon had cut the rope. Buhler/Price had deep respect for the route of descent that the two Brits had negotiated and were in awe of their ability to descend it in the condition they were in.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: After Joe pulls the rope completely down while in the crevasse, the cut rope end is frayed. Later when looking at the rope end again, it's a nice clean cut.

Quotes:

Simon Yates: rather than just sit here, feeling sorry for myself or whatever, I'll get on with it and I'll die on the way down.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'Touching the Void' (2003) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Brown Girl in the Ring

Remarkable courage and determination

Based on the best-selling book of the same name, Kevin Macdonald's docu-drama Touching the Void recreates the 1985 experience of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, two British mountaineers attempting to climb the Siula Grande Mountains of Peru, a mountain range no one had ever succeeded in scaling before. The film tells the story of how Simpson, alone at 21,000 feet -- with a broken leg, dehydrated, and a step away from death, pushed his broken body beyond the limits of what he knew to be possible in order to survive. Oscar-winning director of One Day in September, Macdonald uses actors Brendan Mackay (Simpson) and Nicholas Aaron (Yates) to recreate the adventure while the real climbers provide a running commentary.

After ascending the west face of the mountain in 3 1/2 days using the "purest" style of climbing (sleeping in ice caves rather than setting up base camps along the way), the descent is treacherous as Simpson misses a step and his lower leg is driven into his kneecap. Tied together by a rope, Yates begins lowering his partner downward in the darkness, 300 feet at a time while Simpson is in excruciating pain. Progress is halted when Simpson is lowered into a crevasse and left dangling in mid-air, unable to signal his companion. Yates believes him to be dead and makes a crucial and controversial decision to cut the rope, leaving his partner alone and without support. Simpson has never blamed Yates for his decision and has gone to great lengths in his book and in interviews to defend Simon whose character has been continually under attack since that fateful day.

The film was shot in authentic locations in the Andes and the Alps, and the result is a sense of being there, experiencing the pitiless forces of nature. Though the outcome is preordained, how the two friends managed to survive their ordeal provides more than enough heart-pounding suspense. The film shows Simpson trying to knot a rope with frozen fingers and guzzling the first muddy water he finds to counter the effects of severe dehydration. One of the most intriguing sequences shows the climber in a semi-delirious state listening in his mind to the sound of Boney M's Brown Girl in the Ring.

While there is little in the way of spiritual epiphany (Simpson candidly discusses his atheism), there is an unmistakable feeling that both men have been strengthened by their shared ordeal. Simpson touches the void within him, an emptiness that compels him to keep going only because he "wanted to be with someone when I died". Reaching base camp in the middle of the night, he calls out but no one answers, `When no one answered the call", he says, "I lost something. I lost me.' Then, when Simon and Richard rescue him, the thing he remembers most is the feeling of being held. Though he did not experience a higher power guiding him, he does sense a freedom from the world's clutter that makes him feel more alive. Touching the Void is a tale of remarkable courage and determination that touches the place within ourselves that tells us that miracles can occur in our life if we are able to go beyond what we thought was possible and act as if our life depends on the result.