Touching The Void documentary
- Original title
- Touching The Void
- Year
- 2003
- Running time
- 106 min.
- Country
United Kingdom
- Director
- Screenwriter
- Joe Simpson. Book: Joe Simpson
- Cast
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- Music
- Cinematography
- Producer
- Genre
- Documentary. Drama | Sport Documentaries. Sports. Mountaing Climbing / Mountaineering. Survival Film. Cold Weather
- Synopsis
- In 1985, two adventurous young mountaineers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, set off to climb the treacherous west face of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. They were experienced climbers, and climbed "Alpine-style," climbing the mountain in "one great push," without setting up ropes or base camps ahead of time. After dealing with a snowstorm and some dangerous climbing over powder formations, they reached the summit (about 21,000 feet) on the third day. The climb down proved to be far more difficult. Simpson fell and broke his leg badly. Yates decided to try to lower Simpson down the mountain, one 300-foot section of rope at a time. The climbers had run out of gas to melt snow, so they couldn't risk stopping as night came, and a violent snowstorm began. Their plodding, painful journey hit a snag when Yates inadvertently lowered Simpson over the edge of a cliff. In the storm, the men couldn't hear each other's cries, and, Yates, uncertain as to Simpson's position, and gradually sliding down the slope himself, decided to cut the rope that connected them, sending Simpson plummeting to certain death. Miraculously, Simpson survived the fall, and was faced with the prospect of getting off the mountain alone with no food, no water, and a broken leg. In Touching the Void, filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September) tells their story, based on Simpson's book, using contemporary interviews with the two men, and a reenactment of their climb and descent, featuring Brendan Mackey as Simpson and Nicholas Aaron as Yates.
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- Rankings Position
- Awards
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2003: BAFTA Awards: Best British Film2004: British Independent Film Awards (BIFA): Best Documentary. 3 Nominations2004: Mar del Plata Film Festival: Official Selection2004: Boston Society of Film Critics: Nominated for Best Documentary2004: Satellite Awards: nominated to Motion Picture, Documentary.
- Critics' reviews
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"The most harrowing movie about mountain climbing I have seen, or can imagine"
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"An absolutely thrilling recreation, in documentary style, of a now-legendary story."
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"Factoring in Mike Eley's breathtakingly vivid photography and a virtuoso sound mix that completely envelops the viewer, it's enough to make you never again want to poke your head into the freezer"
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Breathtaking stuff that freezes the toes, harrows the soul and turns the viewer's seat into a foot-wide ledge over a yawning chasm
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"A stunning achievement, every bit the equal of the classic moun taineering book which inspired it."
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- Ranking Lists Position
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- 72 My Favorite Documentaries (95)
- 96 My Top 10 Movies from 2003 (19)
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