Climbing is the lot of courageous and risky people. To engage in this extreme sport, you need not only excellent physical data, but also a special character. Each type of mountaineering is associated with a risk of injury or death. But among all its types, the most dangerous and difficult is considered high-altitude mountaineering. A height of 8 thousand meters is a death zone. It is impossible to stay in it without special oxygen equipment.
In the fall of 2015, the Everest thriller was released, reviews of which the viewers were in most cases positive. It is based on the terrible tragedy that happened to the members of two teams planning to conquer the impregnable peaks.
It’s interesting to know what the reviews about the movie “Everest” from professional high-altitude climbers were.
The film "Everest" - a hymn to the courage of climbers around the world
According to the plot of the drama, two commercial groups of tourists and climbers were at the foot of Everest at the same time. In addition to them, several more expeditions were in the base camp. This created certain difficulties during the ascent - too many people were simultaneously on the track. Team leaders decide to join forces and rise together, helping each other. But constant delays along the way, poorly trained climbers lead to the fact that many climbers are on top after the critical deadline at 14:00. At three in the afternoon the weather began to deteriorate sharply, and the descent to the camp for the delayed tourists turned into a struggle for survival.
Shooting a picture
"Everest" (reviews of the film and the cast can be viewed below) have been planned for several years. In 2013, the approximate composition of the acting group was outlined. During this time, many performers managed to play in other tapes. So, Jake Gyllenhaal starred in three tapes: "Captives", "Enemy" and "Stringer". Jason Clark, too, was not idle and was noted in such films as “Planet of the Apes: Revolution”, “The Storm of the White House” and “Terminator: Genesis”.
The plot of the picture is not based entirely on the book "In the rarefied air", written by one of the surviving participants in the ascent, journalist John Krakauer. The filmmakers interviewed survivors of that climb on Mount Everest (reviews of the film can be read further). Based on their stories of those events and documentary evidence, a drama script was created.
Filming took place in the Alps and Nepal. Actors had to work in very difficult conditions, as close as possible to reality.
Actors and roles
"Everest" (thriller), reviews of which in most cases are positive, has a strong cast. Some critics reproached the film for this - the performers played how powerfully, in a figurative sense, involuntarily pulled a blanket over themselves. Each of the heroes they played has its own story and motives to reach the top, but the viewer cannot sympathize with everyone at once.
The head of the New Zealand company Adventure Consultants, Robert Hall, was played by Jason Clark.
Jake Gyllenhaal embodied on the screen the image of Scott Fisher, who led the group "Mountain Madness" to Everest.
The role of Anatoly Bukreev starred Icelandic actor Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson. Also involved in the film are Josh Brolin, Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Robin Wright.
The tragedy of 1996
In May of that year, 8 people were killed on the slopes of Everest. Scott Fisher and Rob Hall are group leaders, three tourists, and three Indian mountain climbers from the border service.
The cause of the tragedy was the confluence of many factors: the ambitions of the leaders of the groups who wanted to reach the top, bad weather conditions, a large number of tourists who simultaneously found themselves on the route and making it difficult for each other to travel. Scott Fisher was physically ill, but hid it. He did not have the strength to go down, and he died from exhaustion and hypothermia. Rob Hall and a tourist from his group died, as did Fisher. Andy Harris, Hall's tour guide, reached him with a supply of oxygen, but then disappeared. As suggested, in a snowstorm, he lost sight and fell into the abyss.
Everyone from Scott Fisher’s group survived except him. Hall's group lost four people along with the leader.
Anatoly Bukreev
One of the participants of the expedition to Everest (the reviews about the film are ambiguous) was a Russian climber who conquered 11 mountain peaks with a height of more than 8 thousand kilometers. He was the guide of Scott Fischer's Mountain Madness band.
The actions of Bukreev during the ensuing tragedy were differently evaluated by witnesses of what happened. John Krakauer, a journalist and a member of the second group, indirectly accuses the Russian climber in his book of saving only his clients and descending to the camp before anyone else. Bukreev himself in his book of memoirs published a year later gave an explanation of his actions. He responded to Krakuer's attacks that the head of the expedition, Scott Fisher, sent him to the camp so that Bukreev would receive the descending members of the group and warm them. After a blizzard began, he climbed three times to the lagging members of his group in conditions of zero visibility. Risking his life three times, he was able to drag three dying climbers to the camp. After that, he twice, despite the growing bad weather and fatigue, tried to reach Scott Fisher. But they could not save the 40-year-old leader of the group. Bukreev got to him only the next morning, when it was too late.
Other witnesses to the tragedy noted that Krakuer himself and the other climbers, who managed to return to the camp, refused to go to help other tourists with Anatoly and calmly went to bed.
For saving the lives of three people, the climber was awarded the prize of the American Alpine Club. According to Bukreev, the reason for the tragedy was the recklessness of both leaders of the groups, who took elderly and unprepared tourists on expeditions for high amounts.
Anatoly Bukreev died a year and a half later, falling into an avalanche in Nepal. He was 39 years old. In the film "Everest", the climbers' reviews of which were positive, the creators of the picture did not make Bukreev a negative character, although he was Russian. They honestly and impartially approached the account of the events of those years, although Anatoly's participation in saving people was nevertheless underestimated.
The terrible side of conquering Everest is a beautiful fairy tale that turned into a nightmare
Many people remember the words of Vysotsky’s song from the beautiful Soviet film “Height” - “If a Friend Was Suddenly”. It is generally accepted that climbers are friendly, stress-resistant people and are always ready to come to the aid of a climbing partner. But on Everest, humanity gives way to two more important desires: to conquer the summit at all costs and at the same time survive.
The path to the top of the mountain is literally strewn with the bodies of dead climbers who have failed. Nobody cares about them. Those who rise up cannot spend energy on lowering the bodies of the dead. They themselves risk: failure of the oxygen cylinder, a treacherous crack, a hurricane wind - all this can cause death. According to various estimates, from 150 to 200 bodies of the dead are located on the slopes of the mountain. There are many examples where groups climbing to the top indifferently walked past dying climbers without even trying to help them with oxygen or warm clothing. The vain desire to be among the conquerors of Everest is becoming stronger than humanity. But there are exceptions. A married couple from Britain, preparing for the climb for many years, interrupted him, trying to help a dying climber. For 8 years they saved up money to return to the mountains and bury a tourist whom they did not manage to help.
How accurately does Everest follow the original version of events?
The creators of the picture did a tremendous job, trying as accurately as possible to convey the tragedy that happened in 1996. Positive reviews about the film “Everest” suggest that viewers appreciated their efforts. The picture is called atmospheric, allowing you to immerse yourself in what is happening on the screen and empathize with the heroes.
The film "Everest" - reviews of climbers and those who personally knew the participants in the events
Most professional climbers favored the picture. They noted the reliability of the film in showing the tragedy. Both Hall and Fisher made many mistakes, confidently deciding that they could handle everything. But the circumstances were stronger.
I liked the film and Ukrainian climbers, many of whom were on Everest. They only noted that the actors did not correctly convey the behavior of a person in a state of oxygen starvation. But at the same time, climbers were struck by the realism of the thriller - in the film, Rob Hall walks in the boots that many of them used in those years. These small touches give the picture authenticity.
Of course, climbing professionals saw some mistakes made by the creators of the picture. But these are flaws that are easy to forgive for those who are not familiar with the world of mountaineering.
Most of all, climbing professionals liked that the peak was the main character in the picture.
There were extremely negative reviews about Everest. The Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner criticized the picture, saying that it was filmed at a ski resort and the viewer does not recognize the truth from it.
The film "Everest" - reviews of film critics
Most reviewers liked the picture for its authenticity, the painstaking work of the film crew, the magnificent beauty of the visuals and the excellent play of the actors. Many people read the film "Oscar", although for the famous film award it is not formatted. This picture is not about overcoming oneself, the way up, but rather the opposite. “Everest” shows a person’s place in front of nature and reminds us that the world around us is not a toy, and should be treated with due respect.
Conclusion
The thriller "Everest" (reviews of the film are largely controversial), is deprived of the usual action game in modern blockbusters. It does not have many special effects, without which not a single film can do today. This is an atmospheric film about courage and stupidity, ambition and the desire to achieve the impossible. What else sets this picture apart is the immersion effect. Watch it best in 3D and on the big screen. Reviews of the film "Everest" and many reviews suggest that the picture is definitely a success. Its creators did a difficult and painstaking work to tell their vision of the tragedy that happened on the slopes of the most impregnable mountain peaks of the world.