Has anyone seen this one about the two men that went mountain climbing in Peru? It is the BEST survival story I have ever heard about and it is extremely inspirational. I recommend you watch it!! Its a must!
I first saw this years ago at a little art house theatre, and of course had to snavel it up when I saw it on dvd, coz for me that doco is not a 'must see', .. it's a 'must have'!
It's portrayed part like a movie with actors, intercut with actual interviews with the real people involved. Trying to not make it too much of a spoiler, ... they end up in a situation where one has the others life in his hands, but has to choose between dropping him to his death, and saving his own life. Written off for dead after plunging 100's of feet in to a crevass, the guy actually survives the fall but then faces death at every turn and in a situation that it looks like there is no possible way out of. This would have made a great Hollywood style blockbuster if done right by the right director, ..but the doco elements of this actually lend to gaining a greater insight in to the psychological state and thought processes of each man as they each face challenges, life and death choices, and their own mortality. Hope that gives a bit more without giving too much away
The mind blowing part about it is that there were several moments during the movie that I thought "how the hELL is he going to get out of this." and you know he does because he is the one telling the story. I would have to say that it is waaay better than any fiction movie could have been. Its mind blowing.
I might have to check it out. The more sick I get of the movies being the same old garbage (though Inception does look good..) the more, I get around to watching real life =P
I saw Touching The Void a while back. Starbuck deosn't choose to give us a synopsis here. Probably www.imdb.com has one. It's just human nature that disasters like that or like the climb portrayed in Nordwand * make good cinema. That's why, during my climbing years, I hired guides occasionally. The climbs I was on did not become epics, there were no life and death struggles, and everyone made it back to the parking lot in one piece. By way of example, guides hired by their clients (including me) cancelled an attempt on Mt. Victoria (11,365 ft, Banff Park, Alberta, Canada) because they thought the avalanche hazard would be too high by the time we needed to descend, due to warming of the snow pack during the day. As a client, I made a point of expressing my appreciation of the guides' safety first attitude. We were there to climb the mountain, and we were disappointed in the cancelling of the climb, but a safe return remained our primary objective. ---------------------------------------------------------- * See my review at http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=408332&f=290.
Yes, I thought the re-enactment of the tragedy was quite well done. Actually, it wasn't a tragedy, since both Simpson and Yates survived. But just imagine having to cut the rope on your injured partner in order to save yourself. For a synopsis of the climb, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touching_the_Void
