’Touching the Void’ is a type of film which in Hollywood is termed as pseudo-documentary.
It has the real life characters narrating their story on screen while the story itself is
re-enacted in the background by actors and/or stunt doubles.
Directed by Kevin Macdonald and based on Joe Simpson’s book, this is story of when
Simpson and his fellow climber and friend Simon Yates went climbing in the Peruvian
Andes in 1985.
Their mission was to climb the unconquered west face of a mountain known as the Siula
Grande. Their method of climbing is called as ’’push’ climbing where one does not establish
camps at vantage points but climbs the peak in one go, carrying all equipment on the back
which, in turn means, your air supply is limited by how many tanks you can carry.
So is your food and water.
They meet Richard Hawking, a wanderer who they befriend and ask to stay at the base camp to watch
their things while they set off to conquer the peak.
Well as per the laws of physics and life dictate, what goes up must come down.
Simon and Joe do quick work of climbing to the top. Its the coming down which is
tricky. Roped together and descending, Joe has a bad fall which drives his calf
bone through his knee socket.
On a two man climb, a broken leg is as good as death, especially with no rescue
possible. But Simon sticks with him and thinks of a unique way to get down the mountain.
They join the two ropes they have to create 300 feet of rope. Simon ties Joe to
the rope and lowers him down 300 feet, waits for a tug which means Joe is safe and
has anchored the rope which means Simon can climb down.
They manage to make some progress till when Simon unwittingly lowers Joe over the edge of a
precipice/cliff and Joe has not way of telling him of his predicament. About to lose
his grip and be dragged to possible death himself, Simon makes the difficult decision of cutting the rope.
Simon gets down the mountain with this decision weighing on his mind.
He also realises Joe’s predicament when he sees the cliff that Joe was hanging off the cliff and seeing a deep crevasse at the spot where Joe landed, he believes him to be dead.
Well but Joe is not dead ( we already know that since the real Joe is telling us
his story) and he knows very well that with the broken leg he cannot climb out
the crevasse and with fuel/food running out, he decides to take a chance and lower
himself into the crevasse hoping for a way out.
Rest of the film is how Joe gets out of the crevasse and undertakes a gut wrenching
journey back to base camp, hopping, crawling and dragging himself and at the same time
keeping himself focussed and sane.
How he does is one long story of agony which would make any viewer look away or hold his/her stomach.
Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald keeps things simple and at the same time captivates
the viewer with his skillful direction.
In the postscripts we learn that after extensive surgery Joe went back to climbing,
Simon was ridiculed by the mountaineers community for cutting the rope but Joe stood by him saying that he would have done the same.
Pretty interesting movie if u stuck at home on a day of bad weather or if regular Hollywood trash does not interest
Before I forget the most interesting fact is that till date no one has been able repeat Simon and Joe’s feat of climbing the west face of the Siula Grande