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REVIEW: Everest - High Himalayan Drama with a Nordic Touch

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 UKC News 22 Sep 2015
Everest Poster, 5 kbDominic Green shares his review of the recently released blockbuster 'Everest' by Icelandic Director Balthasar Komakur, revealing that this film has much more substance than your classic mountaineering cringe-fest...

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 David Wynne 23 Sep 2015
In reply to UKC News:

I watched the film and thought it was just OK.
The great disappointment was the end role call of the dead.
Why was the Sherpa who short roped Pittman not referenced?
In reply to UKC News: Sadly, the fact that the wooden, leaden Keira Knightly is in it means I won't be going to see it.

On a lighter note, your opening line "The events surrounding the Everest disaster of 1996 have gripped the imagination of the non-climbing world ever since they first made the headlines." is completely untrue, but maybe that's what passes as journalism these days. I doubt Ed Douglas would come out with nonsense like that. At the time, it was of morbid interest to some, but I don't remember many of my non climbing friends even being aware of it.

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 Krustythebrown 23 Sep 2015
In reply to Frank the Husky:

Keira Knightly has actually done some climbing believe it or not!
 Damo 23 Sep 2015
In reply to Frank the Husky:

> Sadly, the fact that the wooden, leaden Keira Knightly is in it means I won't be going to see it.

> On a lighter note, your opening line "The events surrounding the Everest disaster of 1996 have gripped the imagination of the non-climbing world ever since they first made the headlines." is completely untrue,


Rubbish.

'Into Thin Air' had sold over 2 million copies by late 1998, last I knew. The incident has spawned over a dozen books on the same incident and two Hollywood movies.

I've seen 'Everest'. It's quite good, as is Keira Knightley's performance.
 mattsccm 23 Sep 2015
In reply to Damo:
" Into Thin Air' had sold over 2 million copies by late 1998, last I knew"
and how many since?
Not saying this isn't an event of interest to the greater public but slapping this up there with something such as, oh maybe 9/11 isn't really on.
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 dickie01 23 Sep 2015
In reply to mattsccm:

Sorry got to say this - whilst my friendship group doesn't represent the entire non climbing world - a lot of them have read/heard of Into Thin Air. IN SOME CASES it may not have been the event that made the book famous but the author. After the story of Into the Wild and the subsequent film some wanted to know more about the author and his previous work.
With the greatest respect I don't believe anyone was comparing this to 9/11 (as this was never mentioned nor any other comparable manmade or non manmade disaster) the reviewer was simply stating that this story has gathered a large amount of interest beyond the group of people that would usually be interested. I suppose this would be to emphasise that there was a case to release this to the general public rather than aim it more at the climbers and mountaineers, like Joe Simpsons docu-films.

I have not seen the film but will go and seen it.
In reply to Damo: Your evidence to back up the statement that the non-climbing world has been gripped by those events for close on 20 years is ridiculous. Book sale figures that are 17 years out of date, and the fact that some books and a couple of films have been written amount to very little, certainly not enough to refute what I said.

I stand by my comment that the statement is untrue and - almost as bad - thoroughly lazy journalism.

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 MikeTS 23 Sep 2015
In reply to UKC News:

I saw the trailer. It had an avalanche, a roped team sliding down the mountain, and someone nearly falling off a crevasse ladder. I don't remember any of these events in the book. Do you?
I'll go to see Breashear's photography though
 Milesy 24 Sep 2015
In reply to MikeTS:

The chopper pilot at the end seemed to be doing ok without oxygen himself having flew straight from kat. Left his co pilot behind at base camp unaclimitised as well.

Re: Breashear. I have the Everest blu Ray in high def that has the IMAX film they shot in 96. Worth buying.
 Dominic Green 24 Sep 2015
Thanks for all of the comments. I feel I need to follow up!

I hope that in the drift of the conversation on this thread, no-one gets the impression that I compared the events to those of 9/11. As far as the objection to the way I contextualised the events. I am conscious that there are few other events in the history of climbing that have generated quite as many films and books, so I was a bit surprised at the 'lazy' assertion. The last film that I saw as a research prior to doing the interviews was aired on PBS in 2008 (Storms over Everest), a major piece of work, on a mainstream channel, as was the film of Into thin Air (Columbia Tristar) and I would also suggest that the existence a $150million dollar dramatisation might support my point. I certainly remember it reported widely in the national press at the time as well as their having been a double page spread about Stephen Daldry researching this project in Trail magazine in about 2005.

I am sure that Ed Douglas will be very pleased at the fact that he is considered to be the benchmark for climbing journalism. No better man.

I hope that the discussion about my attempt to frame the story in a wider context doesn't completely drag the conversation away from whether it's any good as a film, or not.

I think that it is a decent enough film. I am not sure that 3d makes a great deal of difference to the watching experience. I really liked the director's previous film: "The Deep", and maybe that material better suits the understated approach that he has taken. There is something very appealing about the film however, and it is refreshing to see a film of this scale which doesn't fall into the same tropes as Vertical Limit/K2/Cliffhanger.

I don't think that the trailer really represents the overall tone of the film very closely, by the way.
 Ron Kenyon 25 Sep 2015
In reply to Dominic Green:

I would say that the film is a lot better than OK. There are some aspects were perhaps not quite right but difficult to completely show conditions on a bit lump like Everest when filming in Italy.

I was put off the film by the trailer - but would recommend people going to see it.

It is nothing like Cliffhanger or Vertical Limits. The storyline concentrated on a few main characters - Rob Hall, his wife, Scott Fischer, Ed Withers, Doug etc. The scenery shots are fantastic.

1996 was a busy year for Everest and many books, articles and talks have ensued from that - a film like this has taken some time to come out and I felt at the end of the film, sitting next to someone who has been on Everest, that this film was a fitting account of what happened.

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