Movie Reviews

Touching the Void is a remarkable documentary about a mountaineering trip gone wrong in all the worst possible ways. British mountaineers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, both in their early twenties during the time their story takes place (1985) decided it would be a fun challenge to climb the 21,000-foot Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes -- a feat no-one had ever done before. Their ascent seemed to go okay, but on the way down a violent storm heralded the beginning of a series of tragedies that apparently makes their survival story something of a legend among mountain-climbing folks.

This is a documentary unlike any other I've seen, as it combines footage of real-life Joe and Simon retelling the events that took place -- talking-head style -- along with a very high-quality and well-done re-enactment of their ordeal. I really enjoyed the effect that this created: hearing and seeing Joe and Simon tell their story in person, you know that it was true and it really happened, and the interspersed re-enactment adds a seriously dramatic punch that you just couldn't get with stock footage, photographs, and the like. I doubt it could have been made any more dramatic even if Joe and Simon had taken video cameras with them to document their trip (such is the nature of the cinema!).

The greatest testament to how harrowing this film is is that fact that, despite knowing Joe and Simon survive (they are the ones actually telling the story!) the re-enactment creates an incredible amount of tension and worry. These guys seriously got in over their heads; it was a life-or-death situation, and watching this film makes that very clear.

I'd love to see more documentaries done in the style of Touching the Void.