Customer Reviews

Storm Over Everest

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I saw this on PBS in May of 2008. I had previously seen 'Into Thin Air' several times which is the account by a writer, Jon Krakauer, who was on this fateful climb. I enjoyed this movie a great deal more since it was in the words of those caught in the storm that night. It felt more 'real' to hear their recounts of what happened and what they went through. I trust David Breashears account given the number of times he has climbed Everest and his experiences. He had to bring down the body of a climber who died during that very trip, Chen Yu-Nan. If you want to know what can happen to a climber on Everest, this is the DVD for you.

I saw David Breashears documentary movie "Storm over Everest" on Frontline and I was captivated by this dramatic battle between nature and men and the professional and "breathtaking" making of this film. I knew what happened on Everest's southeast ridge during the night of May 10, 1996, because I read Krakauer's and Boukreev's books about this tragedy but it's a completely different thing to watch the story in Breashears outstanding and realistic movie and to see and listen to the live comments of people who survived this terrible storm night above 26000 feet on the highest mountain on earth.

Just happened upon this last night on late night PBS and was immediately captivated by the simple presentation, the intensity of the climbers' memories and the haunted looks in their eyes. I'd never really read much about this mess and it was interesting to learn the story from the varying viewpoints of those who survived.

At first I felt for the guides who died up there while trying to babysit some of the moneyed folk ($65k each, at the time; some were funded by NBC), at least a few of whom didn't do enough homework and put everyone in their expeditions at risk, but uber-guide Jim Williams says, on the PBS website, that the real fault lies with the guides' letting the weak climbers go further than they should, risking others' lives so they could reach the summit.

The guides are there to make money and might downplay the risks, so it's a two-way blame street. Sandy Hill, the NBC-funded "New York socialite" who brought an espresso maker, two laptops, and a video player to watch movies in her tent (all carried by porters, of course), was "short-roped" up to the summit AND down, and used far more than her share of the oxygen tanks available. There ought to be tests for fitness to do this trek, but enough cash is the main issue, and that blame lays with the guides. This Frontline special lacks the usual hard-hitting both-sides Frontline tone, but its charms outweigh its faults.

The PBS website has the film available for viewing, as well as many other features with the director and survivors. Very nice package, and the price--free--is right. Ain't it amazing to get something back from your tax dollars for a change?

The main flaw with this film is the occasionally weak re-enactments of the disaster, though they're probably very accurate as this doc was made by alpine expert David Breashears, who was there at the time. On the plus side, the many shots of and from Everest are incredible. All in all it's a thoroughly fascinating look at a sad event which highlights the ego/desire for transcendence/thanatos that drives people to make this climb. One climber had a seven-month pregnant wife, and he died up there. Hard to grasp the logic. I understand the lure of the climb but I think that the Disneyfication of one of the world's great places almost guarantees that the hubris will be repaid in spades at some point, as here. Everest is now littered with endless tons of garbage, and many dead bodies no one can or will retrieve; if the mountain does indeed have a spirit, it's no wonder that spirit gets furious with all the moneyed tourists and lets loose now and then.

And with a line of people waiting in front of you, how thrilling and rare is the whole thing, truly? Better to climb another of the endless Himalayan peaks, with no one else on them, for the pure adventure. That hardly plays as well when mountain-name-dropping, though.

I must say that lying in bed and enjoying cheddar popcorn and grape juice has rarely felt so sane. As various of the surviviors point out in their online interviews on the PBS site, this climb made them realize that their families and friends were worth a lot more than chasing the self-glorification of climbing all the highest mountains. Watching the interviews and seeing half the climbers waving their nubby, fingerless hands makes the point quite convincingly as well. I love hiking at 11-14k in the Rockies, but know full well that going over 21,000 feet without truly serious discipline and training is nuts. And commercial expeditions taking people not ready to do that, just to get their money...well, that's something more than nuts.

Storm Over Everest is certainly worth watching; there's a lot of naked emotion here, and much to ponder.

Contains interviews with those who were actually there when the disaster took place and lived to tell about it. Narrated by David Breshears, who was also there with IMAX, this documentary contains first-hand accounts from Charlotte Fox, Sandy Pittman, Neal Beidleman, and Lene Gammelgaard (Mountain Madness team); Beck Weathers, Ang Dorje Sherpa, Mike Groom, Helen Wilton, Lou Kasischke, and John Taske (Adventure Consultants team); and Makalu Gau Ming-Ho (Taiwanese leader). Video re-enactments with interviews are captivating. I went back and read Into Thin Air again after watching this. Incredible story and horrific tragedy!

According to his excellent 1999 book "High Exposure," Breashears decided not to film for the IMAX documentary the spots where Rob Hall and Scott Fischer had died on Everest, though his path to the summit went past their bodies. The same respect for the dead likely influenced his decisions on how to film the Frontline report on the deaths on the mountain.

"Storm Over Everest" does an apt job of retelling the story of the 1996 tragedy atop Everest. The interviews with survivors from all over the world were especially powerful and truly helped develop an objective and detailed recounting of the event as it transpired. On a personal level I would have liked to have seen a little more of the scientific exploration of aspects of phenomena relating to weather, biology, and altitude at the time, but this is personal and did not detract from the overall power of the story. A must see for anyone serious about climbing mountains.

This was the best documentary I have seen on Everest. I've watched almost all of them and have read many books. Sure, I haven't been there, but the descriptions of the mountain and the events that took place by everyone fills you with excitement, sadness and interest. I thought this was extremely well done. Let me address some of the other criticisms from other amazon reviewers directly.

"Breshears' sanitized studio interviews and boring re-enactments remove all immediacy from the story. It's hard to imagine a situation as desperate as the trapped climbers being reduced to pablum, but Breshears manages it.

Forget this film and read Jon Krakauer's book INTO THIN AIR, which does far better justice to the event."

I also encourage you to read Into Thin Air...it is a great book. The main focus of the documentary is not the reenactments...they aren't the best, I agree. However the main focus is the interviews themselves. Hearing people tell the stories is where it comes to life, not from the reenactments that only make up a small fraction of the time of the documentary.

"If you start watching this even after a little research into the events it will seem dull and one sided. Events and people have been left out."

Wait...you mean to tell me that not EVERY single perspective and EVERY single side of EVERYONE's story was told!? What rubbish...I don't think I've ever seen that in ANY documentary. I've read a lot about the events before and it was still fascinating to actually hear the words come from the people who survived on the mountain and see their emotions when talking.

"Its a movie about a few expert climbers/guides taking a bunch of novice climbers up the most dangerous and unforgiving mountain and they were surprised things ended up the way they did. Word to the wise...don't get in over your head and the blame it on the guides for the results...lost fingers, noses, and death. In part it is the guides fault, they never should take up such incapable climbers up the mountain!!!"

This is just plane ignorant. The storm was something not normally seen at Everest...the speed with which it came trapped the climbers. It didn't kill just novice climbers, it killed expert climbers also. The people in the documentary didn't blame their guides at all...I'm sure the guy that wrote that review is a genuine Sir Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay or George Mallory.

Give this documentary a shot, it is very good and I have watched it several times. The criticisms of it on here are unfair and because it doesn't have a ton of reviews the uneducated reviews knock it down unfairly.

I recommend a few books to read if you want to read more on Everest.

Into Thin Air (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

Dark Summit: The True Story of Everest's Most Controversial Season

Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest

Ghosts of Everest: The Search for Mallory & Irvine

Its a movie about a few expert climbers/guides taking a bunch of novice climbers up the most dangerous and unforgiving mountain and they were surprised things ended up the way they did. Word to the wise...don't get in over your head and the blame it on the guides for the results...lost fingers, noses, and death. In part it is the guides fault, they never should take up such incapable climbers up the mountain!!!

If you start watching this even after a little research into the events it will seem dull and one sided. Events and people have been left out.

Breshears' sanitized studio interviews and boring re-enactments remove all immediacy from the story. It's hard to imagine a situation as desperate as the trapped climbers being reduced to pablum, but Breshears manages it.

Forget this film and read Jon Krakauer's book INTO THIN AIR, which does far better justice to the event.