Touching the Void

Rating:
Summary: The Triumph of the Human Spirit
Review: "Touching the Void" is a partly re-enacted documentary of a climb of the western face of the Siula Grande in Peru in 1985. The details of the climb make for a fine and gripping film.

The brief details of the climb of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates is that their ascent is relatively straight forward despite the mountain being more technically difficult than they had expected. It on the descent that problems really began. Firstly and, obviously, critically, Simpson slipped on an ice ledge and smashed right leg. The only piece of good fortune being that no bone penetrated the skin. It was thus left to Yates to assist his partner to the base camp.

At this point, matters deteriorated further when Yates was forced to cut their connecting rope when Simpson had fallen over a cliff and was in danger of dragging his partner with him. Yates then proceeded to climb down having realistically left Simpson for dead. However, by a combination of luck and supreme courage, Simpson too made the descent but in a truly battered state. He had, for example, lost one third of his body weight!

Upon the climbers return to their native England, Yates was apparently criticised for cutting Yates loose. Simpson never joined this criticism but only praised Yates for his efforts.

The film is a re-enactment of the heroism of the two climbers. It outlines to all that mountain climbing is a dangerous past time that only the foolish and/or the brave can contemplate. The film should be seen by all if only for the wonderful telling of a story of heroism within a vast, magnificent and unforgiving landscape.

Rating:
Summary: A remarkable documentary about survival
Review: Back in 1985, two young British climbers traveling through Peru, decided to tackle the west face of Siula Grande, an 21,000-foot, unclimbed peak of the Peruvian Andes. Joe Simpson and Simon Yates make the ascent with relatively little problems. On the fourth day, as they methodically work their way down, Joe stumbles and breaks his leg. Instead of leaving him, Simon works out a way to start lowering his companion slowly and steadily, using a combination of both their ropes. He unknowingly lowers him over a 300-foot crevasse. With no way for Joe to climb up and the snow quickly slipping away from beneath him, Simon makes a decision to cut the rope.

What follows in "Touching the Void" is the story of both mens' struggles to make it back to their base camp. Simon, assuming that his friend is dead, slowly trudges down the glacier, suffering from terrible guilt over what happened. Joe, not knowing if Simon is still alive, must find a way out of the crevasse, even with the terrible pain coming from his broken leg. This is a remarkable documentary from director Kevin MacDonald, based upon the book by Joe Simpson. Full of dizzying visuals, you really have the sense that you are with both the climbers during their ordeal, not just physically but, thanks to some unique camera work, mentally, as well. What's most astonishing, though, is that this is a true story. You start to forget that for a moment while watching, then Joe or Simon appears on the screen to narrate and to explain their emotions at the time. An incredible film.

Rating:
Summary: Harrowing Just to Watch
Review: My son and I came out of the theater exhausted just by watching this quasi-documentary reenactment of the 1985 ascent up an unclimbed route on the Siula Grande glacier in Peru. The film's impact is heightened by the excellent cutting between the actor/climbers and Simon Yates and Joe Simpson, who recall their actions, reactions, and feelings nearly 20 years later. Disaster strikes on the descent, where -- as one of them notes -- "80 percent of accidents happen." After Simpson breaks his leg in a fall, Yates -- against impossible odds -- continues to try and get him down. Finally, Simpson falls again, off the edge of the mountain. After hours of hanging on to what feels like dead weight, Yates cuts the rope to prevent himself from being gradually pulled into the void. Simpson's survival and return to base camp is nothing short of miraculous, suggesting that man is never more tenacious about life than when he is closest to losing it. Though far different in its circumstances, his story rivals that of Shackleton and the Endurance in Antartica three quarters of a century before. An underlying issue, addressed briefly in the film, is whether Yates should have cut the rope. Apparently some other climbers criticized him for doing so, but Simpson always defended his action. I have no idea how well the technical aspects of Touching the Void are done, but to this mostly earthboard amateur, they looked brilliantly and truly shot. Danger and beauty are scarcely separable in Touching the Void. When you are not immersed in the terror of Yates' and, especially, Simpson's plight, the frigid beauty of the glacier, the colors within its crevasses are glorious. A story of recklessness and great determination, superbly told, filled with many "how did they ever shoot that?" moments, Touching the Void must be seen.

Rating:
Summary: Touching My Heart
Review: Not being able to see it in the movie theatre, I rented it for my DVD player. The amazing surroundings already make it spectacular, let alone an amazing plot unfolding. You watch Brendan Mackey (Joe Simpson) breaking his leg, then falling into an ice crevasse, and with excruciating pain, get out of it. If you haven't already seen it DO!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, Frightening and Mind-Boggling
Review: There are few documentaries that can truly take your breath away and "Touching The Void" is a masterpiece. The true story of British mountain climbers of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates balances story telling, suspense and brilliant photography without falling down. Their decision to be the first climbers of Peru's Siula Grande via an arguably unapproachable ascent blends bravery and madness. What got these arrogant climbers into trouble? What happened on that mountain when both 'knew' they would die? How could either of them survive? Most intriguing is how could a man locked in a deep lightless crevasse with a severely broken leg get miles down the mountain and glacier? It's all told with interviews with both climbers spliced in between truly remarkable cinematography. The panoramic views and the treachery of the mountains weather are captured like no other film has done before. It is a nail-biter.

The extras are wonderful as well. How this film was made is another exercise in major accomplishments and "Return to Siula Grande" is startling when trying to understand these two men's emotions after such an ordeal. They both were tested on their personal beliefs in God and mortality. Their conclusions will surprise you. It was clearly the event of their lives. Recorded in Dolby 5.1, the sound adds a level of realism unlike most films.

Rating:
Summary: Impressive and truly incredible!
Review: There aren't enough "mosts" and "-ests" to describe this movie. It's the story of two men, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, climbing the west face of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. After making the summit, Joe slips on the descent and shatters his leg. Faced with certain death on the mountain, they attempt to descend by having Simon lower his injured friend in 300 foot increments (the length of their available rope). This works for a while until Joe slides over a precipice and is left hanging in mid-air. Unaware of whether his friend is alive or dead, Simon's only course of action is to eventually cut the rope.

Amazingly enough, Joe survived not only the fall over the ledge and the subsequent fall to the bottom of a deep crevasse. While Simon fought the elements and continued down (a harrowing tale in its own right), Joe managed to crawl out of the crevasse and after a four day ordeal reach their base camp. Somehow it seems trite to call this an adventure, and yet ordeal doesn't fully describe peril of it all.

Joe and Simon themselves provide the narration and context with an almost unworldly matter of fact manner that only adds to the experience You "know" they survived! The ordeal is painstakingly recreated with actors subbing for Joe and Simon as they offer their own stories and perspectives. Beyond the sheer drama of this film, there is some of the most impressive cinematography that you'll ever see. At times the camera will pan back from a relatively close shot to a distance of a mile or more away, leaving the climber little more than a tiny blur on the wall. It's a fantastic film that will truly leave you breathless.

Rating:
Summary: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST...
Review: This film, based upon the international best seller of the same name, recounts an amazing tale of courage, fortitude, and the will to live, despite dire circumstances. About twenty or so years ago, British mountaineers Joe Simpson and his then climbing partner, Simon Yates, attempted to ascend a perilous section of the Peruvian Andes, Suila Grande, a majestic 21,000 foot peak that was nearly inaccessible. These two intrepid climbers tackled the mountain alpine style and, surprisingly, reached the summit, the first mountaineers to do so.

After reaching the summit, however, tragedy struck on their descent, when Joe, up over 19,000 feet, fell and hit a slope at the base of a cliff, breaking his right leg and rupturing his right knee. Beneath him was a seemingly endless fall to the bottom. When Simon reached him, they both knew that the chances for getting Joe off the mountain were virtually non-existent. Yet, Simon Yates fashioned a daring plan to do just that. For the next few hours, they worked in tandem through a snowstorm, and managed a risky, yet effective, way of trying to lower Joe down the mountain.

Several thousand feet down, Joe, who was roped to Simon, dropped off an edge and found himself now free hanging in space, about six feet away from an ice wall, unable to reach it with his axe. The edge was over hung above him and the dark outline of a yawning crevasse lay directly below him. Joe could not get up, and Simon could not get down. In fact, Joe's weight began to pull Simon off the mountain. So, Simon was finally forced to do the only thing he could do under the circumstances. He cut the rope, believing that he was consigning his friend to certain death. Therein lies the tale. It is at this point in the film that the real story begins.

What happens next is sure to make one believe in miracles. This is an absorbing, beautifully shot film. The story is told in a sort of unique docu-drama style, with actors re-enacting moments in this fantastic, true life tale of survival, while Joe Simpson and Simon Yates narrate what happened on that mountain. It is an absorbing piece of cinema, as it presents a somewhat novel and fresh way of telling this amazing survival story. The cinematography is magnificent, as the film is shot in the Peruvian Andes, where the incident occurred. Moreover, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates do the actual climbing scenes in the film. All armchair climbers will thrill to the sound of their crampons and axes digging into the ice. My only suggestion is that one read the book before viewing the film.

Rating:
Summary: Very intense docudrama
Review: This has to be one of the most intense docudrama I ever seen on screen or anyplace else. The docudrama was based on the book by Joe Simpson about his experiences on the Andes peak of 21,000 feet where he and his partner planned to conquer and did. The trouble came when they were coming down and Simpson broke his right leg in pieces. His partner was partially successful in getting him down the mountain until they ran into a point of no return thanks to an overhang. His partner, Simon Yates, who was in endangered of being pull down with his danging partner, decided to cut the rope to save himself - act that amazingly cost him much reputation as well as a sense of personal guilt. However, Simpson survived the fall and managed to get back to the basecamp, doing it nothing but sheer will power and undying desire to live. It was surreal watching this movie because you are often left during several points of the film how these guys were narrating this story when they should be dead. At least in many of the Simpson's scenes, I felt that way. Yates and Simpson narrated the movie while it was being "reenacted" at the actual terrain and mountain. According to Simpson's book, he thought that the movie was very accurate to his book. Its also Simpson's credit that he defended his partner's actions very strongly.

Very interesting movie....for people who like to see the movie instead of reading the book, this is a perfect example where that might not be a bad idea. I did both, read the book and saw the movie. I got hit twice by Simpson's amazing story of survival and it never fell to awe me.

Rating:
Summary: "Miracles Can happen!"
Review: Touching the Void is the miraculous true story of two men who beat the odds and survived a climb down the dangerous Siula Grande. The movie is narrated by Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, the two men who survived the climb. I have to start off by saying that the scenery was absolutely beautiful. The crisp, clear views of the Siula Grande were breath taking. The story is pretty interesting and warns you about the dangers of mountain climbing. It shows you how people act when put under certain conditions. I loved the character development of Touching the Void.
People do really desperate and strange things when their lives are put on the line and this film is a pretty good example of that. It's a miracle how Simpson and Yates made it through alive. I could relate to the feelings of the mountain climbers. Let me remind you that this is more of a documentary than it is a movie.
I would highly recommend this film to a mountain climber or to anyone who likes taking risks. It's also amazing how none got hurt during the making of this documentary.
Touching the Void proves that miracles can happen.