Gripping and true like no other...
It doesn't often happen that you come out of the cinema glad you paid for the ticket.
Most of the time you find you've wasted an evening on some Hollywood sci-fi-spectacular pile-up.
Anyone who has seen "Touching the Void", and I don't mean only the audience of keen mountaineers, knows that the emotion of the film is all the more intense knowing that it was a true story. An incredible story of courage and virtue that involved incredible men.
The cinematic format is new. Perhaps too new for the mass audience; that "way" of straddling documentary and feature film may seem irritating... but it isn't.
The film follows the events precisely as they are described in Joe Simpson's book.
With this film Joe Simpson's wish to clear his rope partner, Simon Yates, of the accusations levelled at him in mountaineering circles comes true. I'd say that wish has been fully realised.
We watched it with pleasure, with impatience, and for those who know the mountains ... charged with a pathos perhaps more intense... real...
We've seen it... We'll certainly see it again...
Details and contents:
Original title: Touching The Void
Extra content: "Ritorno al Siula Grande" (Return to Siula Grande)
The Fandango DVD comes with a nice book of special content
Running time 102 min
Video format 16:9
Audio Italian and English
Dolby Digital 2.0
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Another mountain film we recommend is La Voie Bonatti.
The DVD at a glance and who we recommend it to
- Director: Kevin Macdonald, based on the book by Joe Simpson
- Running time: 102 minutes, 16:9 video format
- Audio: Italian and English, Dolby Digital 2.0
- Extras: the documentary "Ritorno al Siula Grande" (Return to Siula Grande) and a book of special content in the Fandango edition
We recommend it to those who go to the mountains and want to reflect on the rope team, responsibility and extreme choices in emergencies, but also to those who don't climb: the story stands up on its own. The alternation between interviews with the protagonists and the acted reconstruction takes a few minutes to get used to. For those who have already read the book it remains an excellent visual complement. If you are interested in films about real events at high altitude, also watch Nanga Parbat by Joseph Vilsmaier.