A small window to summit.

Rating: Null/10 (23 September 2015)

As a small boy I remember seeing Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner in the film 'The Mountain' (1956). Perhaps inspired, I enjoyed climbing trees and walls, and hanging off them, but not falling off them. I later graduated to do some hill-walking but nothing more adventurous than that. Thus, I have always had an interest in climbing films, but have avoided any recent films about chopping off ones own arm. My first thought about this new film 'Everest' was to avoid it as I had thought it set in 2014. However, the trailer looked exciting and good, and when I discovered that the film was not set in 2014, I decided to give it a go. The film is in fact set in 1996 and is a true story.
Named after Sir George Everest, Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world, at 8,844m or 29,017ft of rock, with varying levels of ice upon that. The peak is actually in the stratosphere, thus exposing it to the jet-stream, and air-pressure is a third that of sea-level thus reducing the availability of oxygen. Winds can also reduce the oxygen by a further 14%. Above 8,000m or 26,000ft, is known as the death zone. In that zone you are actually dying all the time, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. Most deaths occur after summiting. There are 150 dead bodies lying on the mountain.
Thus climbing Everest is hard. Each Spring and Autumn there is a 7- 10 day window of lighter winds due to the start or end of the monsoon. Winter is cold and windy, and Autumn has the fresh snow from the Summer, thus Spring is the best time for climbing.
'Everest', a Universal Pictures film, is set in the Spring of 1996, and tells the true story of rival adventure companies trying to summit Everest. Adventure Consultants was led by Rob Hall and Mountain Madness was led by Scott Fischer. Both guides ran commercial companies that organized fee-paying climbing trips for clients.
Director Baltasar Kormakur had previously directed '2 Guns' a standard action-buddy-comedy film. Here though, he takes this true story and directs and shoots it magnificently. Some scenes were shot in Italy but others were shot in Nepal, including those shot at the South Base Camp of Everest. We see the clients arrive at the airport in Nepal, then travel from the hustle-and-bustle of the city up into the hills. An aerial shot up a valley gorge with bridges crossing it, is merely the first of many great shots. There were many others too. Watching the 3D version, you can see down crevasses, and round, and down, the sides of the mountains. The overall effect is of one huge landscape of rock carved by nature, and covered by rocks, snow, and ice.
John Clarke, who earlier this year played the legendary John Connor in 'Terminator Genisys', here takes on the role of Rob Hall. Curiously in both films he was a replacement for Christian Bale. Christian's loss is John's gain, and ours too, as he convinces in his role as the mountain guide.
Rival guide Scott Fischer is played by Jake Gyllenhaal, now highly regarded following such films as 'Source Code' (2011), 'End of Watch' (2012), and 'Nightcrawler' (2014). Here too, Jake makes his part a fully-rounded character.
Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson plays guide Anatoli Boukreev and Michael Kelly plays client Jon Krakauer. Of other clients; Josh Brolin, son of James Brolin, first caught my eye for his strong performance in 'American Gangster' of 2007, he also did 'No Country for Old Men' in that same year. Here Josh plays Beck Weathers, an outstanding performance, as too was that of John Hawkes playing Doug Hansen.
Elizabeth Debicki, Emily Watson and Sam Worthington, play characters at base camp. Keira Knightley and Robin Wright play wives. Miss Wright is Peach Weathers and Miss Knightley plays Jan Arnold the wife of Rob Hall. Jan and Rob met and climbed a mountain for their first date, and in 1993, three years before this film was set, they had both summited Everest. Miss Knighley, who was recently in 'Begin Again' (2013), and in 2014 also appeared in 'Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit' and 'The Imitation Game', here in 'Everest', once more delivers a strong and emotional performance.
The dangers faced by the climbers is best exemplified by a short night-scene at base-camp. There is a hedonistic party with much camaraderie. However the next day these same people could be walking past one another, one surviving, and one dying. This atmosphere of life on the edge is caught well in the film. As too, are the issues regarding commercialization, competition, and other controversial issues. For those interested in further examining these issues, there are three different books that have been written about this Everest story.
An emotional rendering of a true story. 10/10.