Touching the Void
Cast
Nicholas Aaron .... Simon Yates
Richard Hawking .... Himself
Brendan Mackey .... Joe Simpson
Joe Simpson .... Himself
Simon Yates .... Himself
Directed by
Kevin Macdonald
Rater #2 has description and review
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rater #2
8/10. Usually mountain climbing motion pictures are left up to either IMAX
short movies (Everest) or crappy movies (Vertical Limit), but not
usually documentaries. It's even rarer to see it done in a fashion
like in Touching the Void. Void is not a straight documentary, nor is
it told in a normal way. It's almost completely acted out, but is
basically narrated by the two main characters (in real life).
Occasionally the film cuts back to the real people, documentary
style, but for the most part, it's acted out.
Two young climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, decide to climb
Siula Grande, a previously unclimbed peak in the Peruvian Andes.
However, many things befall them on their decent (as they always do-
never on their ascent), including near-fatal injuries and crucial
decisions.
Void is one of the most thrilling movies I've seen in theaters for a
long time. I'm amazed on how exciting this movie was, for not only
was it obvious that both men survived (they narrated it!), but
documentaries aren't always the most exciting genre. However, it was
made perfectly. Not knowing much about mountain climbing, I would
have been lost had it not been for the "illustrations". And without
the narration/documentation, it would have been bland, hard to
distinguish the action, and, quite simply, dull after a while. It was
filmed perfectly: exciting, easy to follow, and fun to watch.
However, one thing just REALLY bothered me, and that was how fake the
mountains looks when it was just a pan across. It wasn't even CGI. I
swear, it was just whipped cream! Going through all of the endeavors
that those two went on through a bunch of whipped cream? It's
shocking. Also, sometimes the shots looked extremely fake. They
looked exactly like a Hollywood soundstage. Other than that, though,
Touching the Void is a tense, new style of movie that will probably
be utilized more in the future. That's a good thing, as long as it's
done correctly, like this movie does.
Not Rated.
Running time: 106 minutes
Back Home