Touching the Void (NR, 2004)

TOUCHING THE VOID tells the true story of 20-somethings Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, who set out to be the first climbers ever to climb the west face of the 21,000-foot Siula Grande in the Andes. They make it to the top, but on the way down Simpson falls and shatters his leg. Yates risks his own life to help Simpson descend, lowering him 150 feet at a time with a rope holding them together. But when Simpson falls again and Yates can't see or hear him, the rope that connected them was pulling Yates to certain death. Yates, believing Simpson must be dead, cuts the rope. He searches for Simpson with no luck and barely makes it back to base camp. Meanwhile, over the next four days Simpson faces certain death but refuses to give up. Simpson fell into a 150-foot crevasse. By going down further into the crevasse instead of trying to climb out of it, he manages to escape. Facing a series of obstacles that would challenge a mythological hero, Simpson perseveres. Even when he accepts that death was inevitable, he still kept going because "I didn't want to die alone." At times angry, terrified, and delirious, he keeps trying anything and everything he could think of to get back home.

Director Kevin Macdonald lets Simpson, Yates, and Richard Hawking, who was waiting for them at base camp, tell the story in understated British style, as two actor/climbers re-enact the story on the actual site. Incredibly, Yates and Simpson returned to the Andes for the filming and put on their gear and performed some of the re-enactments themselves. Their story is gripping and, in their perseverance and dedication, deeply moving. Simpson's first comment when he sees Yates is as heart-wrenching as any of his struggles. Their candid but matter-of-fact delivery is far more effective than any actor could muster.

Macdonald reaches his own summit with an electrifyingly thrilling movie that makes the mountain more than a setting, almost another character in the story. The sheerness of the slope, the friable "meringues" and "cornices" of snow, the sweep and sparkle of the ice -- the mountain's terrible beauty is alternately austere, majestic, implacable, ominous, and menacing.

Studio: IFC Entertainment
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Cast: Brendan Mackey, Nicholas Aaron, Simon Yates
Genre: Documentary
Run time: 106 minutes
Theatrical release: January 23, 2004
DVD release: June 15, 2004
MPAA Rating: NR