Customer Reviews

Touching the Void (Slip) [VHS]

5 star:		(86)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

I've seen countless movies over the years but I don't think I've ever been moved in quite the same way that I was watching Touching the Void. I first saw Touching the Void in a small art-house theater in Chicago, the experience was closer to going to church than going to the movies. The entire theater was dead quiet throughout the film but you could feel the tension throughout the room. After it was over I felt like I had been holding my breath for an hour and a half - incredible when you consider that, this being a documentary, I more or less knew how it was going to end - and others I talked to in the theater expressed the same feelings. I wasn't sure if anything would be lost in the transfer to DVD, it wasn't. Not only was the story just as gripping on the small screen but the extra features made a perfect movie-going experience even better. People marching off to see I, Robot or whatever other dreck Hollywood throws at us have no idea what they're missing in this masterpiece.

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.

I heard about this film on Ebert & Roeper and was very intrigued. While the events in this movie happened in 1985 and became the subject of a million seller book in 1987, this was the first I had heard about Joe Simpson and Simon Yates.

At the time of this story they were tough, even brash, young adventurers in their early twenties who had decided to take on the previously unclimbed 21,000 foot Siula Grande in Peru. Can you imagine such a decision from men, one 25 and another not quite 22? Of course, it always such young men who possess the gift of a sense of immortality and indestructibility that have always taken on these impossible tasks.

The climb was harder than they had anticipated, and things were getting dangerously severe on their way down, when disaster struck: Joe fell and broke his leg. Simon decided to try to help his friend down and they worked out a method that got them a long way down, but their luck ran out. Joe was lowered over a sheer drop and could not pull himself up nor could Simon pull him back. The howling wind made it impossible for them to communicate with each other. They were trapped in a deadly situation with almost no way out.

After waiting for hours, Simon, who would surely have died if he stayed where he was, made the hard decision to survive and cut the rope to Joe. Joe fell a long way and crashed through the ice into a crevasse and fell some more onto a narrow ledge. It turns out the Simon's decision saved both their lives, but at the time Simon looked for Joe's body assuming he was dead. He couldn't find Joe and struggled back to camp, frostbitten and distraught over the loss of Joe.

How Joe survived would be unbelievable in a work of fiction. It is an amazing true story of tenacity, will, and even dumb luck.

This movie combines the participants telling the story in their own voices with actors re-enacting the events. Having the story told by the ones who lived through it gives the story an immediacy and veracity that actors alone could never provide, and seeing the stories portrayed as the story is being told to you makes their words more vivid. Combined, the story is made more immediate, real, and heart pounding.

If you like stories of adventure, determination, and overcoming impossible odds, this is as fine a story as you are likely to find.

Amazing.

There are three featurettes on the DVD that make this all even better: 1) The making of the movie, 2) The Return to Siula Grande, 3) What Happened Afterwards.

Climbers have always felt there was no need for the embarassing antics displayed in absurd films like Vertical Limit, MI-2, and Cliffhanger to get across the at-once dangerous and beautiful aspects of their sport. In fact, it was believed that a truly talented director could convey those things quite well through a little creativity rather than resorting to nitro-glycerine and cheesey free-soloing scenes to add suspense. So it was with great anticipation and a bit of skepticism that the release of this movie retelling the classic story of Joe Simpson's epic in the Andes was anticipated. No one was let down. This is a brilliantly done film, at the original scene, with the real climbers doing much of the legwork. The climbing scenes are shot with authenticity, and even the actors portraying the climbers did a good job. The horrible situation Simpson finds himself in and his deteriorating physical and mental condition are palpable and nerve-wracking. The feeling of desperation and hopelessness reaches the same heights achieved in the book, as does the anxiety and anguish of Simon (his partner). This is a classic film rendering of a classic book. This is one movie you must see; who knows if another climbing story will ever be done as well. And whether you're a climber or not, you will be just as close to the edge of your seat, all without the insulting Hollywood silliness.

"Touching the Void" was also the name of the book that Joe Simpson wrote about the events shown in this astonishing movie. In 1985 Simon Yates and Joe went on one of those "we're going to do something that has never been done" kind of Mountain Climbs - up a previously unconquered approach up Siula Grande in the Andes.

My wife told me that the film wasn't at all what she was expecting, so it is perhaps worth describing the format of the film. A small film crew, a couple of actors and Joe and Simon themselves returned to Siula Grande in 2002. Richard Hawking, who maintained the base camp at the foot of Siula Grande while Joe and Simon went off on their death-defying climb, comes along as well and seems to have one of the most balanced viewpoints among the original three members. The movie intercuts interviews with Joe and Simon and Richard with footage shot for this movie with actors portraying them. The shots of the Andes and glaciers and icy crevaces are spectacular outdoor photography. The present day Joe, Simon and Richard tell an absolutely spell-binding story of heroism and perseverence and bravery.

Well before the end of the movie I found myself wondering how in the world Simon ever made it off that mountain, and he had by far the easier time of it. Joe's survival is one of the most incredible stories of human endurance you'll ever hear. Seeing that both Joe and Simon made it to the making of this movie removes some of the tension of "oh my goodness! will they make it!" but knowing the ultimate outcome doesn't relieve the edge-of-your-seat-white-knuckle tension of hearing this incredible story.

As a bonus there is additional footage of "what happens next" plus a mini-documentary on the making of the movie. The movie essentially ends with Joe and Simon and Richard reunited at base camp. You KNOW that both climbers need urgent medical attention and Simon will require surgery for his shattered leg - and the "what happens next" fills in some of those blanks.

The behind-the-scenes documentary gives you an idea of why the story depicted in the movie ends where it does. Simon comes under criticism from the climbing community when Joe and Richard are staunch supporters of his actions on the mountain. Joe returns to the mountain and memories he has suppressed for 15 years come flooding painfully back and he withdraws from the remainder of the crew. There is an emotional detachment in both men that seems odd to those of us in the audience - but none of us have descended from the top of Siula Grande. They both experienced horrors that can't really be imagined - even with the assistance of this movie. They have mentally walled off the events of 1985 into a place they don't allow others to - and it seems obvious they don't want to go there either.

The "special features" complete the story, and don't diminish the magnitude of the bravery, perseverence, etc seen in the movie. Recommended for those who want to see what humans pushed to the edge can do. My hat is off to Joe and Simon and Richard as well - it is plain that Richard was crucial to the survival of the other two.

The true story of Joe Simpson's miraculous survival is a testament to human endurance, determination and raw grit and is rightly one of the most widely recounted stories in the history of mountaineering. "Touching the Void," based on the book Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival, uses interviews with the principal protagonists, as well as re-enacted climbing sequences filmed in Peru and the Alps, to weave together the story of two ambitious, young British climbers attempting to scale the west face of Siula Grande (20,814 ft), a notoriously challenging peak in the Cordillera Huayhuash, in the Peruvian Andes. The cinematography is nothing short of breathtaking. The heart-pounding climbing sequences place the viewer in the boots of the two climbers, and the story is a face-paced, gut-retching, roller coaster from beginning to end. Touching the Void is a head-spinning, exhilarating, top-to-bottom adventure not to be underestimated. If you have any interest in the outdoors or extreme mountaineering, this film should be at the top of your must-see list.

First of all, this is one of those rare productions where some 'Hollywood' version of true events [** you know, the old Hollywood classic of "for the sake of the script, viewer interest and so-termed 'creative license' ...] doesn't tinker with the facts or where countless Hollywood hawked "taken from true events" winds up taking a beating and pure 'fiction' enters the script forthwith! See my K2 review and the additional problem of some folks seeing a 'movie' and suddenly transpose the movie and sometimes even its 'fictional' characters and conjured plot to literal 'fact' [!] simply because they never researched the actual events any further than the Silver Screen representation of same!

In this film production , while professional actors duly play Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, the 'real' Simpson and Yates comment on the film as the film progresses. I don't mean some viewer option 'commentary' DVD machine turn on/turn off kind of thing, I mean the actual 'visuals' of the real Joe Simpson and Simon Yates commenting throughout the film itself. One could say it's a documentary versus 'movie' per se but the direct input of Simpson and Yates, at least in this case and IMO of course, only adds to the film. And its accuracy.

Now for the biggie: It's hardly any secret that Simon Yates took some heavy flak from certain folks in the mountaineering fraternity citing what they believe to be the unwritten code or "golden rule", viz., "you don't cut the rope!" That's of course very easy to say when it's someone 'else' who is involved in such horror filled time spans but my own feeling is who is to say what one will do or not do in such dire circumstances! And keep this one in mind: I keep hearing as the alleged 'primary' reason for Yates cutting the rope [from various and sundry who are highly critical of Yates] that, "Yates says he thought Simpson was dead" and followed by "how could Yates ever know this!" but I suggest that Yates believing Simpson was dead was a 'secondary' consideration and the 'primary' consideration was the FACT that Yates was 'himself' being slowly but surely edged off the mountain. In effect, 'both' climbers could have fallen had the rope not been cut and who is to say the result then!

Further, and of cogence, Simpson 'defended' the action of Yates cutting the rope. Simpson also dedicated his book to Simon Yates. Recall too that in the real drama, Simpson landed on a small ledge "within a few feet of a deep drop-off" within the crevasse. Who is to say what the impact of that ledge landing would have been had 'both' men tumbled off the mountain? Yates could not pull Simpson up nor was Simpson capable of assisting in any upward climb on the rope, Yates was himself being edged off the vertical and into oblivion by the weight of the rope -- what does one do! Finally, and think about this one, Simpson was freezing to death on the end of that rope during the storm and, ironically, landing in the crevasse after the rope was cut actually sheltered him [such as it was but nevertheless shelter] from the brunt of the storm and significantly reduced the effect of the storm winds [while dangling on the rope] with regard to acute hypothermia and wind-chill issues.

On the other hand, we have a situation here where both men did survive and were able to fill in the gaps as to what happened versus some 'conjectured' scenario of having no input from the original climbers involved. And, hey, OK, I'll play, what would 'I' have done? I don't know! I've mercifully not been in a situation like that but what I'm grousing about are those Yates detractors who were not there yet castigate Yates by simply parroting "You don't cut the rope!" ad infinitum suggesting that no matter the circumstances, ahhh, 'they' would 'never' conceive of doing such a thing. No-no, not they! 'They' would allegedly die first, kind of thing, and allegedly never even give a passing thought to touching that rope but I'm not so sure that kind of statement can be made when the speaker of same is not the one involved in the decision! Or the intense physical and psychological stress of the moment as one is being edged off the mountain and into oblivion themselves!

It's a gripping film and has various extras including the making of the film featurette and "Return to Siula Grande" with further interviews with Joe Simpson and Simon Yates. BTW, it also shows the truism that the 'majority' of accidents in mountaineering endeavors occur on the 'descent' versus the 'ascent' -- as the most recent K2 tragedy [August 1, 2008] well demonstrates where 11 experienced climbers were killed.

Doc Tony

I read Joe Simpson's book a few years back and wasn't impressed. The impression that I got was that two young guys went up into the mountains, made some poor decisions and then were very proud of themselves after the fact. It seemed similar to Beck Weather's Left For Dead and Aaron Ralston's Between a Rock and a Hard Place in this respect.

In the film however, it is clear that neither climber was proud of what happened and that to this day they are still carrying heavy emotional baggage because of it. In my mind, the film was an ecellent showcase of human determination and emotion.

While watchin the film I had to laugh a couple of times at the absolute absurdity of the hardships endured by Simpson. If this was a fictional story I would have turned it off because it was too far fetched. However this is a true story. I can't even begin to imagine what was going on in Simpson's head as he was making his way back down the mountain after being presumed dead by his friend. I am in complete amazement.

I really liked how the reenactment was broken up with clips from interviews. It kept the film moving along at a good pace.

This is without a doubt the best climbing film I have seen. It is realistic and vividly and honestly shows the emotional state of the climbers thoughout. Joe and Simon seem to have no problem making very un-flattering statements about how they felt and what decisions they made.

This is no hollywood film ... the experience just isn't something you could make up - but the production values are still first notch and the 'alternating narrative and reenactment' format really reminds you that these are real people and this is truely what they went through.