Touching the Void

Awe-inspiring work by director Kevin Macdonald takes us with a minimum of fuss to a corner of the Andes in Peru for this epic tale of endurance against the elements. After what appears to be a relatively rapid, routine conquering of a 22,000 foot peak, we are left contemplating what might be in store to fill out the rest of the film. Suffice to say we are told that eighty per cent of climbing accidents occur on the descent. Harrowing times in the extreme soon present themselves, with amazing camera work accompanied by stark human emotions as life-affecting decisions have to be made in the harshest of conditions. There are only three actors in this reconstruction of an actual climb made in the 1980s. The original climbers themselves personally add to the screenplay at appropriate moments, to what I believe is just the right extent for maximum effect. We are made to wonder what drives a couple of fit 25-year-olds to climb to such heights, in such conditions, with an insufficient gas supply, no oxygen, and no backup team. But that is sometimes the reckless nature of young people that age. The viewer is left in no uncertain mind about the might of nature versus the insignificance of human effort. This is reinforced in most spectacular fashion by the use of zoom photography, underlining the sheer size of the Andes mountains. What does make the difference, though, is the strength of the human will, particularly when it comes to a matter of very survival. In this case we are given to believe this is largely driven by the fear of dying alone, but I found myself trying to identify what other motives might have been present in such dire circumstances. Considering the semi-documentary nature of the film, and the conditions under which it was made, I cannot rate Touching the Void less than 9 out of 10. It had me on the edge of my seat until the final credits.

so i was completely and utterly amazed by my response to this movie... i guess i haven't explored the genre but the two men who survived were so HONEST!... it was refreshing to hear the way they spoke, of secretly wanting to leave the other man to die, but persisting because it was the right and humane thing to do... what courage it takes to admit that!... and to admit that you're stubborn and arrogant... that you were completely broken... it's rare to hear sportsmen talk this way... and they didn't seem to exude that attitude that non-climbers wouldn't understand, or that they were somehow superior to us ordinary folk (despite joe's self-confessed ego)... some interviews with climbers annoy me, but these guys were amazing... the sheer emotion they conveyed with the simultaneous reenactments and the articulate commentary was astounding... i was gritting my teeth at the implied pain and frustration and even became somewhat emotional at the reunion... this documentary has palpable, white-lightning power, and it will remain with you long after you've seen it... it's quite unlike anything i've viewed before...

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.

You'll be lucky if you have any cuticles left by the time you've finished watching `Touching the Void,' a nail-biting documentary that chronicles a true-life tale of miraculous survival. In 1985, two experienced mountain climbers, Simon Yates and Joe Simpson, set out to scale a peak in the Peruvian Andes. Although they successfully reached the summit, disaster struck as they were making their way back down. In the midst of a blinding blizzard, Joe slipped and broke his leg. The film, based on the book by Joe Simpson himself, recounts the grueling ordeal both men underwent in their efforts to make it back to their base camp alive. To fully dramatize the experience, director Kevin MacDonald filmed one-on-one interviews with the two survivors (as well as a third companion who didn't go up the mountain with them) commenting and reflecting on the event, then employed actors to reenact the event as it originally happened. MacDonald has done an astonishing job capturing the edge-of-the-seat suspense inherent in the material, this despite the fact that we already know how it will all turn out. By plunging us directly into the heart of the action, we feel we are enduring every death-defying, heartbreaking moment right along with Joe and Simon. `Touching the Void' is, if nothing else, a tour-de-force of breathtaking cinematography and stunt work, one that makes us identify with the characters every step of the way. Yet, for all its technical expertise, `Touching the Void' is, first and foremost, a human document, a testament to the endurance and survivability of both the human body and the human spirit. The amazing determination and perseverance demonstrated by the two men - especially by the then 25-year-old Joe as he struggles manfully, despite unendurable pain, to reach a place of safety - is inspiring even to those of us who do most of our adventuring from the comfort and safety of our living room armchair, a cold beer in hand. The film also reveals, through their actions and their words twenty some years later, the character of the two men. Simon has to live with the fact that, at a crucial moment in the crisis, he cut Joe loose from his line, consigning his partner to probable death so that he himself could survive – an action for which many fellow mountaineers later criticized Simon. Yet, never once – either then or now – does Joe join in that criticism. On the psychological level, we learn of the cavalcade of emotions and feelings Joe underwent in those moments of greatest desperation when he looked impending death square in the face. This film is as much an adventure of the mind as it is of the body. Paradoxically, at the same time as the film is showing us the indomitableness of the human spirit, it is reminding us how much we humans – even the most daring among us – are, ultimately, at the mercy of a far greater, impersonal and indifferent force known as Nature. Thanks to the compelling, stranger-than-fiction quality of the tale and the technical brilliance used to re-create it, `Touching the Void' will have you chewing your fingernails down to a nub.

I watched this movie during the Mar Del Plata's International Film Festival last March here in Argentina. This film was one of the selected movies for the Official Competition. The first thought that came to my mind after watching it was -"what the hell is doing a discovery-channel documentary type in the official competition of an International Film Festival?" I started feel boring after the first 20 minutes... The images never bring something new or relevant after the words of the characters telling us the story... I mean, it's like first we listen what happened and right after we watch it over and over again... I never feel moved by the story... there's no passion in the way that this characters tell us their adventure... I think that we should know more about the guy who stayed at the bottom of the mountain waiting for them... The director shows him a couple of times but it's not enough... mmm... what else? well I just didn't like it, and for me it looks more like a product made for the TV than a Movie that deserves a place in the Official Competition section of an "A class" Film Festival... Not recommendable...

In the mid-80's two young climbers attempted to reach the summit of Siula Grande in Peru - a feat that had previously been attempted but never achieved. With an extra man looking after base camp, Simon and Joe set off to scale the mount in one long push over several days. The peak is reached, however on the descent Joe falls and breaks his leg. Despite what it means, the two continue with Simon letting Joe out on a rope for 300 feet, then descending to join him and so on. However when Joe goes out over an overhang with no way of climbing back up, Simon makes the decision to cut the rope. Joe falls into a crevice and Simon, assuming him dead, continues back down. Joe however survives the fall and was lucky to hit a ledge in the crevice. This is the story of how he got back down. Yet another reason to lament the closing of Film Four's doors, this film is the cinematic equivalent of sitting listening to someone tell you an amazing story in their own words. The film is acted out in dramatised scenes but it is Joe's and Simon's words over the top that really will keep you hanging on. The dramatised scenes though, are still wonderful, it is very easy to forget that this was not somehow filmed at the time, not only do they look very, very real but they also look spectacular; when Joe talks about the imposing crevice he was in, the pictures on screen did much better at translating that into visuals than my non-mountaineering imagination could have done. The two actors in the roles of Joe and Simon do a great job; like I said, it is very easy to forget they are actors or that this is a replay for the camera. However the real people are more interesting and it is they that drive the film. To hear Joe talk about what he did and felt puts so much more bone on the story that any Hollywood version could have managed. He is a great guy and I can only imagine what he went through. Simon on the other hand is more guarded. He never really goes below the facts, whereas I know he has issues underneath as he apparently was not as calm as he is on camera during the making of the film. The film ends with some captions - one of which being that Simon came under great criticism for cutting the rope from other climbers. However the talking heads bit never even touches the surface of what Simon had to go through after they all got home - in a way that would have been just as interesting a part of the film as what Joe went through. As the story unfolds it is impossible not to sit shaking your head in amazement. At the start I was like everyone else 'why would you do this stuff for fun' etc, and I still think that, but the story is so gripping that it is impossible to think of anything else. The running time is generous and allows Simon to tell his story properly, it is amazing and the sense of impossible odds and the sheer pain involved is brought to the audience very well - even with a handful of people in the audience gasps and 'ah's' were very audible. Overall this film is more dramatic than any Hollywood drama I have seen in a long time. It is not without flaw but it is difficult to sit and just watch it - I was enthralled by it, a true dramatic human story that never let me get bored or distracted. By the end, Simon has put forward his many emotions so well that I was very moved. The only think that would have made this film better would have been a bit more of searching inside himself by Joe in the final 15 minutes, in my heart I doubt if I could ever forgive myself and I wonder how he did or if he did.

source: Touching the Void

Touching the Void

Even for those who cannot understand why anyone would attempt to risk their life to climb a peak that most will never even know about, this film is a true eye-opener. It will show you the part of climbing that many amateurs such as I will only read about..and now, through dramatic reenactments as described by the survivors, see in this film. The beauty of the mountain is juxtaposed in tense dramatic fashion by the two climbers struggle to survive. In pitting human against nature, it will force the viewer to confront themselves with the fundamental principle of American culture--the morality of self-interested, rational behavior. As the law prof reviewer suggested, you may come away from this film with a different outlook on "acceptable" behavior in an ethical sense.

This film describes the true story of a climbing accident in South America in 1985, using dramatisation with voice-overs and interview excerpts from the three British men who were actually involved. It may sound boring, but I cannot stress this enough: this film is much more tense, and nail-bitingly gripping, than any Hollywood action movie - because you know that everything you're seeing and hearing really did happen to these guys. The story itself is incredible. It will redefine for you the capabilities of the human mind and body. There is action, sadness, hope, and even brilliant humour in places. Please go and see this film; you won't regret it.