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Directed by: Kevin Macdonald Starring: Simon Yates, Joe Simpson, Richard Hawking http://imdb.com/title/tt0379557/ Touching the Void is a true story about two hikers who, in 1985, tried to climb a mountain in Peru that many people had attempted to climb but weren't successful. This movie is different from your ordinary documentary. The mountain climbing footage is wonderfully done and is re-enacted by actors, not the actual climbers. However, the actual climbers narrate the story. The movie is about 90 minutes long, but the climb up the mountain takes about 18 minutes of the film, which was surprisingly short in my opinion, and getting more of the great climbing footage would have been excellent. They did manage to reach the very top, but that's only half the climb. The obviously short time going up the mountain is a dead give-away that the two climbers face some trouble on their way down. They say that 80% of the accidents occur on the way down the mountain, and this event proves that statistic valid. One of the climbers breaks his leg still relatively high up the mountain, and what follows is a heart-breaking, suspenseful, and excruciating fight for survival. The film does an excellent job re-creating the scenes. They put real climbers on a real mountain. All the shots are absolutely amazing: huge blue ice walls rising to a misty pinnacle and clouds of powdery snow blowing off the summit. Awe-inspiring. As I said, the climb up the mountain was entertaining to watch, and I wish they put more of this in the movie, but this is such a minor CON that it doesn't affect my score. I give it a 5/5.5 stars. A must-see if you like tales of survival and perserverence. RATING: 5 PROS: Very suspenseful, gripping, and emotional CONS: I wish they spent more film time on the hike up the mountain ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://imdb.com/title/tt0379557/
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Jun 19, 2004 08:57
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 19:17 |
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I was pretty compelled by this as a true story that seemed fascinating. I heard the guy tell his story on Jim Rome's radio show and was even more intrigued. The problem is that this subject matter doesn't work so well when presented as a documentary in this fashion. With the two characters narrating everything that happened with confessional shots, any intrigue as to whether or not they survived is removed. In fact, since they look rather healthy and don't seem to be worse for the wear, it's even less suspenseful. Though there's certainly some beautiful photography of the mountains, and some actors simulating the climb, you know that they are just actors simulating the climb. The actors say very little and serve no other purpose than to be stick figures showing you how the harrowing events all unfolded. Had the entire film been a dramatization, you might have got attached to the characters more and cared about their outcome. The film is very slow paced and tiresome to watch. I'd recommend reading the book if the story intrests you. 2 STARS liquorhead fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Jul 9, 2004 |
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Jul 9, 2004 18:22
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quote:liquorhead came out of the closet to say: First off, at least 3/4 of the film is dramatization, when it wasn't it was the actual people on screen. I see no problems. Also, the actors don't need to say anything because the actual people are narrating it. 2 stars, you don't even know what you're talking about. It deserves at least 3 even if you didn't like it. 4.5/5
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Jul 9, 2004 18:54
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WOW! WHAT A STORY! The story is amazing, especially since it is true. It is reinacted very well. There are times where the movie seems to be going slow, but those points are only apparent when the action is slow paced. If you see it ou 'll know specifically what that means. 4.5 of 5 stars
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Jul 22, 2004 10:53
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It's an amazing story, and I think any criticism of the format is completely off-base. Since there's almost no dialogue between the characters when portraying the climb, combining the depictions with expository narrative by the people themselves was a wonderful way to depict the whole character to the viewer at once, both their internal status and conflicts and their external situation. Although the characters were not really complex, given that the film essentially depicts just this one climb that takes place over a few days, the presentation of the film made the characters feel three-dimensional because you were able to examine them from so many perspectives at once. I can't imagine how the story could have been presented better in any other format. The ideas of sticking only to narrative interviews, or sticking only to dramatization, strike me as equally ridiculous. A film made up only of interviews would be, of course, quite dull and would never do justice to the material; and a film that was only dramatization, which liquorhead suggested, would suffer from both artificial exposition and a feeling of shallowness stemming from the extreme bizarreness and unbelievability of the story that is only eroded by the contributions of the real people who lived it. I believe it is missing the point to say that there is no suspense to the story, because you know from the first interview that the characters lived to tell the tale. While the news story might have been that the main character continues to breathe today, the story that the film is seeking to tell is that the man underwent an awe-inspiring journey of fear, courage, pain and perspiration. The fact that he lived is only the footnote. 4.5/5
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Jul 23, 2004 05:27
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This movie was great. No, it was not well acted, because there was little acting. There was portrayal of events, but mostly what you have here is a recounting of some seriously harrowing events. Really, it might have been a SUPERLATIVE pbs special, instead it's a GREAT movie. 4.5 stars. The story is harrowing. Two men, adventurers both, but young and somewhat inexperienced, head out to climb a mountain face in Peru that no one has yet been able to climb. Undaunted, they head up the face and encounter rotten weather. They summit, amazingly enough. The climb down though, kicks their asses. Joe, the author of the book and the 'star' of the show, attempts to traverse a bad slope and suffers a HORRIBLE fall, shattering his leg. Falling and breaking your leg on a mountain = usual death. Simon, his climbing partner and friend, attemps to lower Joe down the mountain -- they take a route they did not take on the way up so they don't know all the features. Once again the weather is beyond lovely. At one point Simon lowers joe out of site and Joe slides off the face and over an ice overhand. He tries to signal Simon not to lower him anymore, but Simon cant tell. Simon cant lift him up, can't feel anything but slack weight on the rope. Simon begins to be pulled off the face by Joe's dead weight, so after an hour and a half of this, he assumes Joe is dead and cuts the rope. Joe falls 80+ feet into a huge ice crevasse. And lives. Simon, assuming him dead, must struggle to get himself off the mountain alive. The rest of the movie addressses both men's struggle, physical and mental, to get off the mountain alive. Simon must also face the idea he has let his friend die and left his body unfound. Joe must face the fact that Simon has done this to him. It's a great, fantastic tale of survival and not giving up when you should just give up and loving DIE because it's got to be a lot easier than dehydration, frostbite and the crushing pain of a shattered knee and femur. I would recommend this movie to anyone. It doesn't have great effects, it doesn't have stupendous acting. But it does have a harrowing feel and a verisimilitude that you can't find in Hollywood productions.
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Aug 18, 2004 09:58
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A tremendously gripping film. What both men went through - especially Joe Simpson - defies reason. This film shows just how much suffering people can endure to survive. A must-see, and it should be a frontrunner for the 2004 Academy Award for Best Documentary. 4.5/5
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Nov 22, 2004 16:40
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This is a mond-boggling tale of survival that could be seen and enjoyed by just about anyone. I was wary going in because I usually dislike re-enactments when compared to true documentary footage, but the interview dialog playing over the recreated footage gives the entire thing a great balance of authenticity and drama. It doesn't spoil anything to know that they both live, because the excitement is in the journey and trying to relate to the minds of these two men while in the midst of their experience. Joe Simpson is a hard bastard, and he should be dead today, but he isn't. He has only himself to thank for that. Also, watch this on DVD if you can because the disc has some good bonus features that shed even more light on these two fellows. It is especially interesting to see Simon deal with a legacy of being "the one who cut the rope." 4.5/5 stars
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Nov 22, 2004 18:37
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As a climber, I have major respect for this film. 4.5/5 stars
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Nov 24, 2004 02:29
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4.5 I flipped to this while lying in bed around 1 AM. I knew I had to get to sleep for work but I could not turn it off. Despite knowing that the participants survived I could not contain my building astonishment as their predicament unfolded. In fact, their commentary was a key element of the story. Knowing what they were thinking and feeling as everything happened was vital to the story and I can't think of any other way to convey that than to let them tell the story themselves as you watch it.
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Dec 7, 2004 04:03
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loving Badass.
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Dec 10, 2004 07:28
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What a remarkable and thrilling tale. I was seriously biting my knuckles during parts of it... even though, being a documentary, one knows how it all turns out in the end. Gorgeous shots of the mountain, and excellent re-creation job. Rating: 4
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Feb 18, 2005 21:59
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Thread super-necromancy... Just saw it, finally. Great movie - I really liked the narrative provided by the real guys. It provided a sense of authenticity that simply watching your usual Based on a True story hollywood movie doesn't have. I just couldn't believe the poo poo that Joe had to go through. Also, watching this after seeing 127 Hours is interesting. In later scenes, the camera and editing reminded me heavily of 127 Hours... or vice versa depending on your viewing order. Isolation and dehydration start screwing with your mind. 5
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May 3, 2011 08:54
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 19:17 |
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Thanks for the thread necromancy - this is absolutely my favourite climbing movie and possibly one of my favourite movies, period. Maybe I am biased by pursuing various mountain pursuits myself, however it's an incredible story, wonderfully told alongside some beautiful photography. And it's pretty harrowing, especially towards the end - you really feel for Simpson especially. Shits all over other 'climbing movies' like Vertical Limit (dear christ, no) and sits firmly alongside fellow (albeit less dramatic) documentaries like Alone On The Wall (part of the First Ascent series) and The Swiss Machine (shown at Reel Rock 2010) in my mind. And I liked it a lot more than 127 Hours, which although very good, proved just too difficult to watch (and I have a strong stomach!) to be entirely worthwhile. 4.5/5 because no film is perfect, but this is drat close.
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May 6, 2011 03:22
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