Touching The Void
(2003)
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Bringing to life Joe Simpson's book of the same name, TOUCHING THE VOID details the near-death experience he endured during a 1985 attempt to climb the only mountain in the Peruvian Andes that had not been scaled--the 21,000-foot Siula Grande. With his partner Simon Yates, Simpson successfully reached the peak after a three-day climb. During the descent, however, he fell and shattered several bones in his right leg. Yates attempted to lower Simpson down the mountain 300 feet at a time, but the process was slow and painful for both men. With no food or water, they would both surely die--which left Yates with a painful choice to make--cutting Simpson loose, thus ensuring at least his own survival. This was only the beginning of Simpson's mind-boggling odyssey. |
A strong contender for best film of 2003, this vivid survival docudrama recounts the harrowing story of British climbing buddies Joe Simpson and Simon Yates. When his own life is threatened, Yates is forced to abandon his partner, leaving him for dead high in the Peruvian Andes. But, remarkably, Simpson survives, and despite a shattered leg manages to crawl painfully back to base camp. It's impossible not to wince at every bone-broken inch of his incredible journey. The film combines interviews with the climbers themselves with terrific reconstructions of their ordeals, both physical and psychological. Directed by Kevin Macdonald, who made the equally impressive One Day in September, about the terrorist attack on the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, this is dramatised documentary-making at its peak.
Halliwell's Film Guide
More tense and frightening than any horror movie, this uses a mix of documentary, commentary and actors to brilliantly re-create a mountaineering classic, though it's less about climbing than the survival of the human spirit.