Product Details

• Actors: Simon Yates, Joe Simpson, Brendan Mackey, Nicholas Aaron, Richard Hawking
• Directors: Kevin Macdonald
• Writers: Joe Simpson
• Producers: Charles Furneaux, Gina Marsh, John Smithson, Paul Sowerbutts, Paul Trijbits
• Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: June 15, 2004
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (112 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00020X94W
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,892 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #50 in

  Movies & TV > Art House & International > British Cinema > Action & Adventure

• For more information about "Touching the Void" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

To describe Touching the Void as a mountaineering documentary would be to do this breathtaking drama an injustice. By intercutting narration from the climbers themselves with a nail-biting reconstruction of their remarkable adventure in the Peruvian Andes, the film has the best of both genres: the authentic stamp of factual storytelling and the edge-of-the-seat tension of a dramatic movie.

In 1985, two British mountaineers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, embarked on a daring--arguably reckless in the extreme--attempt to climb the previously unconquered mountain Siula Grande. A mixture of overconfidence in their own abilities and underestimation of the climb's difficulties brought them to grief after the successful slog to the summit. What follows is an often harrowing account of their perilous descent.

Based on Joe Simpson's gripping book, the film boasts glorious widescreen photography of Siula Grande and its notorious glacier. Actors take the place of the two climbers for close-ups, though Simpson did return to Peru in order to reenact parts of his dreadful crawl back down the ice. The story of Simpson's almost-superhuman fortitude has become legendary in climbing circles, and even for viewers uninterested in mountaineering, Touching the Void is an astonishing slice of real-life drama, magnificently retold. --Mark Walker

Product Description

From Oscar®-winning* director Kevin Macdonald comes a riveting true story a gripping white-knuckle (The Village Voice) adventure culminating in a cliffhanger a real one (Los Angeles Times)! After scaling the never-before-conquered 21000-foot Siula Grande mountain climbers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates face their greatest challenge yet: getting back down. But when Simpson shatters his leg in an awful fall and the friends are separated by a series of devastating mishaps their individual journeys become a voyage into extreme experience that should not be missed (New York Post)!System Requirements: Runnig Time 107 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: R UPC: 027616905260 Manufacturer No: 1006298

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing Just to Watch, May 26, 2004

By	James Carragher (New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive and truly incredible!, March 1, 2004

By	Michael Meredith "e-Mike" (St. Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There aren't enough "mosts" and "-ests" to describe this movie. It's the story of two men, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, climbing the west face of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. After making the summit, Joe slips on the descent and shatters his leg. Faced with certain death on the mountain, they attempt to descend by having Simon lower his injured friend in 300 foot increments (the length of their available rope). This works for a while until Joe slides over a precipice and is left hanging in mid-air. Unaware of whether his friend is alive or dead, Simon's only course of action is to eventually cut the rope.

Amazingly enough, Joe survived not only the fall over the ledge and the subsequent fall to the bottom of a deep crevasse. While Simon fought the elements and continued down (a harrowing tale in its own right), Joe managed to crawl out of the crevasse and after a four day ordeal reach their base camp. Somehow it seems trite to call this an adventure, and yet ordeal doesn't fully describe peril of it all.

Joe and Simon themselves provide the narration and context with an almost unworldly matter of fact manner that only adds to the experience You "know" they survived! The ordeal is painstakingly recreated with actors subbing for Joe and Simon as they offer their own stories and perspectives. Beyond the sheer drama of this film, there is some of the most impressive cinematography that you'll ever see. At times the camera will pan back from a relatively close shot to a distance of a mile or more away, leaving the climber little more than a tiny blur on the wall. It's a fantastic film that will truly leave you breathless.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very intense docudrama, March 13, 2004

By	lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This has to be one of the most intense docudrama I ever seen on screen or anyplace else. The docudrama was based on the book by Joe Simpson about his experiences on the Andes peak of 21,000 feet where he and his partner planned to conquer and did. The trouble came when they were coming down and Simpson broke his right leg in pieces. His partner was partially successful in getting him down the mountain until they ran into a point of no return thanks to an overhang. His partner, Simon Yates, who was in endangered of being pull down with his danging partner, decided to cut the rope to save himself - act that amazingly cost him much reputation as well as a sense of personal guilt. However, Simpson survived the fall and managed to get back to the basecamp, doing it nothing but sheer will power and undying desire to live. It was surreal watching this movie because you are often left during several points of the film how these guys were narrating this story when they should be dead. At least in many of the Simpson's scenes, I felt that way. Yates and Simpson narrated the movie while it was being "reenacted" at the actual terrain and mountain. According to Simpson's book, he thought that the movie was very accurate to his book. Its also Simpson's credit that he defended his partner's actions very strongly.

Very interesting movie....for people who like to see the movie instead of reading the book, this is a perfect example where that might not be a bad idea. I did both, read the book and saw the movie. I got hit twice by Simpson's amazing story of survival and it never fell to awe me.