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137 of 151 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Love this DVD, February 9, 2000
Stunning cinematography, incredible acts of human courage, beautiful landscapes, sacrifice and hardship, pain and sufferingEverest I wanted to take a second to address one reviewer's thoughts: Reviewer: William from Texas January 16, 2000 If you've read "Into Thin Air", you'll be disappointed in the film's inability to capture the human drama and hardships of the climbers. It is interesting, however, to see the scenery that you read about in the book. The film is only 45 minutes long - not a real good price-performer. The additional material is very good though - the interview with Beck Weathers is by far the most impactful piece of this disk. * * * And if you read "Into Thin Air" you will also notice that it was written by Jon Krakauer who was not even a member of Ed Viesturs team. "Everest" is an account of Ed Viesturs' team and *their* experience climbing to the top of Mount Everest. Of of the 4 teams that got stranded on top of Everest on that fateful night, there were people that had "no business being there". I cannot remember whether it was Ed Viesturs or Aracelli but that's a direct quote from one of Viesturs team members. "Many teams lacked a critical amount of experience" was another quote from Viesturs. Ed Viesturs' team was the "dream team" of mountain climbers. They assembled a great cast of leaders, a great support team, they planned the entire trip from the start, and as luck would have it, the "Gods" were on their side as well. They also made the right decisions at the right time which certainly helped to avoid a lot of the hardships other teams had to face. Jamling Norgay (having been born in Tibet) and his team of "sherpas" had lived in the Himalayas all their lives. If anyone knew about survival tricks and tactics living in the Himalayas it would be Jamling Norgay. Of course he was able to pass along his wisdom and insights to the rest of the team. It is not discussed in detail in the movie, but Viesturs team was probably very well financed. This results in better clothing, equipment, better food and/or more food. After all, Imax (as well as some Geological survey team) was sponsoring this event from the start. It's hard to do a film when you don't have the tools you need to do your job right. They had to haul a 40 pound camera all the way to the summit. Think that's easy? Jon Krakauer didn't have 30 pound rolls of film strapped to his back. Somebody had to carry that camera, all those rolls of film, tripod, and so forth up the summit (and back down). So in one sense Viesturs' team had to endure a lot more than the other teams did. And just to give you an idea of how important weight was, the climbers were cutting their toothbrushes in half just to save some weight! Yes, you heard me right, they were shaving off every little once just to make it *THAT* much easier to pull themselves up the ice! That 40 lb camera probably felt more like 100 lbs at the summit. Yes, the movie is only 45 minutes long, but you have to look at this in the context of what you are seeing. You are climbing Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. You can't compare this to say, the beautiful beaches of Hawaii where anyone can go and shoot a scene. You can't compare this to the Sierra Nevada because that area is easily accessible. There's only 1/3 the oxygen level up there so there's nothing for the rotors of a helicopter to bite onto. It's not like you can just fly up there with a camera and shoot because you might get killed. Everest is a place where neither man nor machine is welcome and that makes this video VERY special. Off to the side, this DVD is chock filled with extra features. In addition to the Beck Weathers interview, there's "The Making of Everest" which was about 45 minutes in length. I found this to be very informative and enjoyed it as much as the movie. There's a "3D Map" which gives an computer generated image overview of Everest. Within this "3D Map" there's "Camp Information" (info on Base Camp, Middle Camp and High Camp) as well as the "Climber's Perspective" (a short description of that part of the mountain). There's a set of "Climber's Video Journals" which is an up close video of 3 of the climbers. Lastly, there's "Deleted Scenes" which are all the scenes that did not make the final cut. So actually you do get quite of bit of "bang" for your "buck". Well over 2 1/2 hours worth of film I would guess. As for one reviewer below who was complaining that they could have made this longer and more into a "feature" film: This isn't supposed to be a full length feature film. All of IMAX's films are around 45 minutes. It's more of a documentary, and this film has absolutely stunning cinematography for a documentary. I've seen several IMAX movies before since I was a small child. The first time being at Mariott's Great America about 15 years ago where (at the time) it was only one of two IMAX movie screens in the entire world. This is the best IMAX movie I've ever seen. From the reviews I've read on IMAX's other films being sold on Amazon dot Com "Everest" gets the highest ratings by far. And even though you probably won't be able to see this on an IMAX screen, a big screen TV will still provide you with plenty of beautiful stills that will make you want to watch this over and over. If you have a DVD player, definitely add this one to your collection!
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