Review of Touching the Void (2003) by Michael C — 21 Aug 2004

[b][font=Verdana][color=#000000]TOUCHING THE VOID (2004)[/color][/font][/b].

[u][font=Verdana][color=#000000]THE GOOD:[/color][/font][/u].

[font=Verdana][color=#000000]--?Touching the Void? captures everything so well, it?s so visceral, graphic, brutal and realistic, it really puts you in the traumatising events of the film. I felt like I was trying to walk across rocks with a broken leg and I was continuously falling over, or like I was helplessly crying out from a huge crevasse, or like I was hanging from the side of a mountain, waiting to die. I was gripping the chair or biting my nails a heck of a lot during this film, because I was literally feeling the intensity of it, experiencing it. Special credit should be given to the "Boney M" sequence, absolutely incredible.[/color][/font].

[font=Verdana][color=#000000]--The amazing cinematography of this film captures the mountains exquisitely. We understand the massive surroundings, which are both nature?s beauty and one of their deadliest weapons. The cinematography also captures a lot of the mood and exhausted feel of the characters, such as when Joe is going seriously bonkers near the end of the film and he keeps that really happy song in his head, the close-ups on his face and the surroundings in the background were really effective.[/color][/font].

[font=Verdana][color=#000000]--The style in which this film is done I was unsure about at the beginning of the movie. I thought for sure that hearing those guys talk would get tiresome and boring after a while, but it turned out to be an essential element of the film in many ways. It added a lot of drama and realism to the film because it let us in on what Joe was thinking a lot of the time (such as when he was calling out for Simon on the rocks?heartbreaking) and also injected the film with a little humour (?he was swearing a lot?).[/color][/font].

[font=Verdana][color=#000000]--Characters facing inner conflict are always something that is bound to be a plus side of almost every film that does it effectively, and this film is no exception. Simon?s feelings of guilt after cutting Joe off the rope aren?t portrayed through dialogue (hardly any of this film is, other than the interviews) but the actor playing him did such an intense job with his expressions you could just see his doubts and inner guilt building up as he climbed down the hill and it was compelling stuff.[/color][/font].

[u][font=Verdana][color=#000000]THE BAD:[/color][/font][/u].

[font=Verdana][color=#000000]--Not really anything at all.[/color][/font].

[u][font=Verdana][color=#000000]RATING:[/color][/font][/u].

[font=Verdana][color=#000000]10/10 ? An amazingly powerful documentary that works both as a story that?ll keep you away from the ice forever but will encourage you to fight on through the hard times and realise life is worth fighting for, even when all the odds are against you.[/color][/font].

[u][font=Verdana][color=#000000]IF YOU LIKED THIS MOVIE I RECOMMEND:[/color][/font][/u].

[color=#000000][/color].

[color=#000000][font=Verdana]Alaska[/font][font=Verdana] (6/10)[/font][/color].

[font=Verdana][color=#000000]Alive (8/10)[/color][/font].

[font=Verdana][color=#000000]Seven Years in Tibet (8/10)[/color][/font].

[font=Verdana][color=#000000]Titanic (10/10)[/color][/font].

[font=Verdana][color=#000000]Vertical Limit (3/10)[/color][/font].