Touching the Void
A short review tonight, not because the film doesn’t deserve it, but because it’s late. Touching the Void tells the story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, two (frankly, insane) climbers who, in 1985, attempted to scale the perilous slopes of Siula Grande in Peru. This was a mountain deemed unclimbable by the majority of the climbing community, and the pair of friends wanted to prove them wrong. Of course, they managed to climb it, but on coming down faced a barrage of obstacles, the main one being Joe’s leg breaking and Simon having to lower him down the mountain on a rope. Not all that easy, by the looks of things.
I won’t say any more because the major moral dilemma of the piece comes fairly early on, but it is clear from the start that both of them survived their ordeal, because they are doing talking heads interviews throughout the movie, giving their memories (when they can) and discussing their decisions. It’s a strange film, half documentary and half re-enactment, but never with enough focus on the characters as they are played by actors to engage with that part. And Simon and Joe are so British about their descriptions that they never fully engaged me either. Lines like “It really was very very cold” (not much of a surprise there, frankly) actually end up being terribly weak compared to what we can see on screen - perhaps it would have been better to make a straight documentary, or ‘based on’ film. And what we do see on screen of the re-enactment is amazingly done - I couldn’t help wondering how on earth they filmed it without going to a crevasse. How do you get a camera crew inside holes like that?
There are 2 major scenes of swearing, of the most offensive kind (but quite forgiveable in the context, and directed at nothing and nobody but the swearers themselves), just to be aware of. The film didn’t totally work for me, but the very fact that they shot it is testament to the skills of the film-makers, and some of the scenery is astonishing.
I thought this was an absolutely outstanding docu-drama (and the book is superb too) - gripping, terrifying, and moving without being sentimental.
My only caveat is that from a spiritual perspective, its messange can be construed as a truimph of reliance on human strength and pride. At one point in the film, Joe comments on how people who say they don’t believe in God cry out to him in difficult situations, but that he didn’t feel any inclination to and as such it confirmed, for him what he believed in that God did not exist. Of course, given that this is a true story, I can hardly expect Joe to lie about his experience, but I remain hopeful that he will discover the truth in the end.
Comment by Simon — 8 February, 2006 @ 10:05 am
I loved it. I was so glad they were both doing the talking heads bits, as I would have been in pieces wondering what had happened otherwise! And the moral dilemma was really interesting, in their reasoning about it, and in the reactions they had from the climbing community. Had us talking about it for quite a while, and I’d love to see it again.
Comment by Alison — 8 February, 2006 @ 8:13 pm
Yes - we were intensely frustrated by the fact that there was a tiny glitch on the DVD at just the moment when he started talking about his former religious experience (brought up a Catholic, but later rejected it, and that was all we heard) so thanks for enlightening us regarding what he actually said!
Comment by Sparky — 8 February, 2006 @ 8:14 pm