Touching the Void...the movie

“Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, had just reached the top of a 21,000-foot peak in the Andes when disaster struck. Simpson plunged off the verical face of the ice ledge, breking his leg. In the hours that followed, darkness fell and a blizzard raged as Yates tried to lower his friend to safety. Finally, Yates was foced to cut the rope, moments before he would have been pulled to his own death.
The next three days were an impossibly grueling ordeal for both men. Yates, certain that Simpson was dead, returned to base camp consumed with grief and guilt over abandoning him. Miraculously, Simpson hd survived the fall but, crippled, starving an severely frostbitten, was trapped in a deep crevasse. Summoning vast reserves of physical and spiritual strength, Simpson hopped, hobbled, and crawled over the cliffs and canyons of the Andes, reaching the base hours before Yates had planned to break camp.
How both men overcame the torments of those harrowing days is an epic tale of fear, suffering, and survival; a poignant testament to unshakable courage and friendship.

It is unrated at present and I don't know the release date but I will go to the theater to see this one.”

“Simpson was interviewed on a local radio morning show the other day, it was fascinating, I'm definitely going to see the movie, I thinks it's out in limited release starting Friday.”

“I just watched the trailer the cinematography looks awesome!”

“Tango - keep us posted on the release. I definitely want to see that movie.”

“I really want to see the film. The book is one of my favs.”

“Here is a list of release dates.”

“I had read about Simpson crawling all the way back to basecamp a few years ago. Man, that's just some incredible feat.”

“COOL Tango, I will go see this one as well... Pass the popcorn please!”

“i heard about this a while back,.. haven't seen the trailer yet but i'm definitely gonna see the movie.”

“WLD - do you think the dialogue will be as good as Grizzly Adams?

Can't wait to see it...I think. The book was almost more than I could take.”

“I am PUMPED for this movie. Unlike Vertical Limit, K2, et al.. this movie is supposed to be very true to mountaineering. It's based on a true story, and I think it's even being billed as a documentary, which makes it cooler.”

“Me Too Me too!

I read the same thing in Outside Mag. Artex. Hope it holds true.”

“Bummer, no theatres in Alabama are showing it.”

“I read about it in 'Outside' too. I just hope I can find when and where it will be released in Canada. Maybe the Banff Film Festival will pick it up.

'Touching the Void' is one of the three best mountaineering books I have read; the others being Maurice Herzog's 'Annapurna, premier 8 000 mètres' and Krakauer's 'Into Thin Air'. As ihave said before, 'It's all about getting back'.”

“The only tine it is showing here will be while on the Ocala trip.

Damit!”

“It got great reviews when it was released in UK.

http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/news/article.asp?SP=&V=1&UAN=2385" TARGET="_blank">here”

“gremlin you should read the Russians book on the Everest tragedy. Anatoli Bhouhkreev (sp) he used actual quotes from the people being debriefed. Krakauer is a hack and actually wrote things directly contradictory to witness statements.

Go here if you want to watch the trailer:

http://www.cafilm.org/films/177.html”

“Yeah that little red x!”

“I'm sorry Tango. Here's a link”

“That's pretty!”

“Buddur, that is an AMAZING picture!”

“Hey Pepper, that was Jeremiah Johnson. And Tombstone! LOL,
The book was awesome, I gave a couple away for christmas presents. If the movie is half as good as the book. Then it will be a success. IMHO....... However, I will still need the popcorn...”

“Open your mouth WLD I promise to REALLY try to get the popcorn in.”

“YUM YUM!”

“Feb. 20, I believe, in St. Louis. Anyone going?

Simpson is a really interesting guy. I enjoy his writing. Check out his website www.noordinaryjoe.co.uk”

“Those that oppose Krakauers viewpoint say he is a hack.

Jon has been a climber for a long time and done some pretty serious climbs in Alaska.

He criticized the guiding trend which was taking inexperienced people up mountains where they did not belong. He said it was a disaster waiting to happen.

He criticized the competition between guiding companies and noted that this competition was getting them to go a little furthur past the edge of safety so as to not be upstaged by the other company. That it was moving from safety to money at $65K per client, client satisfaction was overriding safety.

He criticiced 2 guides, noting that he thought they were not safe 'in a guiding capacity', both were great climbers and both were dead within a year of Krakauer's writing.

I have a great deal of respect for Jon's writing and am comfortable that he wrote of what he saw and gave his opinion as a very experienced climber in his role as guided client.

Not a hack in any way.”

“Manuka, I totally believed Krakauer until I read several other books that concur. Krakauer's rendition is the only on that differs. Several witnesses and participants statements are dismissed and Krakauers own renditions are written. I believe that is reckless. But as I say read the other books and see for yourself.”

“I caught about 15 minutes of the interview on The Jim Rome show on the radio with the author. Quite a compelling story. The author holds no ill will against his partner, who had to cut him loose. Really, an amazing story.”

“It's playing at a theatre in Fairfax maybe ten minutes from me, I'm going to the 4:30 show, I'll give a report when I get back.”

“I read an article in 'Time Out New York' magazine about this film. Sounds really interesting. Looking forward to hearing about it, Bison. Enjoy!”

“I have to wait til' March. Miracle was pretty good though!”

“Sass and I are hoping to go see it next month also. Joe Simpson was interviewed recently on an NPR show, of course I missed it.”

“hmlttp://outside.away.com/link_tracking/lt_url.tcl?id=28464&url=http://outside.away.com/outside/news/200402/void_video.ht
Outside Mag has the trailer for this movie. I cant wait till it comes around here!”

“The thing that stood out most to me was the cinematography, it was great to see the focus on large mountain landscapes. The story is told very much in documentary form, the actors act out the actions while the principals narrate the story. I loved that the climbing scenes were very realistic, if you think in terms of an action movie you might find them boring, but that's not what you go to see here. There's no real attempt to overemphasize the drama of the story, as a matter of fact the telling is quite direct and straighforward. My only criticisms are that I would like to have scene more of about the actual climb up, they get through that pretty quickly in the movie (obviously there are time considerations). The focus is mainly on what happens on the descent (and of course you can get all of the drama of the climb from reading the book). I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be, but still It was well worth watching, and I recommend it to anyone who's into the outdoors (everyone here). But like most movies, or for that matter documentaries, made from a book, the book certainly is more informative and dramatic.”

“Bison, thanks for the review.”

“Great to hear its more of a documentary. Getting rather tired of movie studios taking an event like this and embellishing it with hype, animation, and too many special effects.

I'm gonna be in line for the first showing here in Orange County, Calif. in the next week.”

“Geez! I wish I could find where and when it's showing in Canada.”

“Saw it this afternoon and Bison's post pretty much describes it. Great documentary movie, especially if you've ever done any high altitude climbing.

Only thing I would change from B's post was that the lack of footage of the climb upward was actually about correct. Having done some verticals in my past (the "arrogant, don't care about anything else" days that Simpson mentions) I'll have to say the uphill is only interesting when you're doing it, being both terrifying and invigorating at the same time (I think both Yates and Simpson mentioned this in the movie). However, the film makers could have 'spiced' up the summiting part - its always a thrill you can't image unless you've had the experience.

The things I liked most (besides the great scenery) was Simpson mentioning that 80% of the problems occur on the climb down - definately correct, the minimal soundtrack (I find the quiet and solitude on high peaks is a 'reward'), the 'trashed' look both Yates and Simpson had when they got back to camp (realistic), and the discussion about how Simpson has had to constantly defend Yates' decision to cut the rope; climbing is a risky endeavor and the rope can sometimes be an enemy.

Go see it if it plays in your area. A great two hours of informative and engrossing film making for anyone who has a passion for hiking or climbing.”

“If it made it to Orlando it must have only stayed a milisecond! I'll have to get the DVD!
Thank you for the review TD.”

“Yeah, I'm kinda bummed...it's not showing anywhere near my home. Can't wait to see it.”

“Strange, the local paper (Montreal, Quebec) did an article on the movie....but no cinemas are showing it yet.”

“It's opening in more and more theaters in the coming weeks, so it may not be in your area just yet. I know it's coming here to Tampa on March 5th, and I'll be there that day.”

“The movie is showing in Nashville on March 5th. You could always call in sick that day.”

“Sumbeetch its not coming to Jacksonville! Argh!”

“Oh good it's going to be in Winter Park, I thought I was going to have to drive all the way to Tampa!”

“You know, you still could. ;-)”

“You mean you'd stay up past 8PM for me?”