General fitness, health and nutrition · Public discussion

Touching the Void (again)

Chris Gilbert · 2004-01-16T08:10:11+00:00

OK, my turn. Saw it last night. Great great film. Superb cinematography and faultless re-enactment.I couldn't imagine them making it any more realistic without having actually been there to record the events. Gripping. A few observations; spoiler space spoiler space spoiler space I felt that they didn't emphasise strongly enough the impact that not packing an extra gas canister had on the trip. It's a while since I read the book but I am sure that this came out more in the text. If they had had the extra fuel then they would not have had to push on during the worst of the weather and would probably have avoided Joe's accident. I didn't think Simon came out of it too well. My wife said that he should have gone to look and that's my gut feel too but it's easy to forget that he was only 21 at the time and under an incredible amount of pressure. The facts remain that if he hadn't cut the rope then they both would have died. Would that have been right ? They were incredibly lucky. They didn't prepare properly, they were cocksure and complacent (probably an attribute of thier youth more than anything else) and one of them should have died. It made me wonder how often every year the same scenario is played out around the world with different results. Will this heroic tale encourage and inspire some people to climb who should ;-) An otherwise superbly realised piece of cinema, unlike Lost In Transalation, which we also saw yesteray and which fails miserably to live up to its billing. Good soundtrack, however. Chris

Started by Chris Gilbert · 16 January 2004 · Last activity 16 January 2004 · 8 posts · 521 views

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Original section: General fitness, health and nutrition
Published: 16 January 2004
Last activity: 16 January 2004
Original author: Chris Gilbert
Posts: 8
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Original post
Chris Gilbert
Archived post

16 January 2004, 08:10 UTC #1

OK, my turn. Saw it last night.
Great great film. Superb cinematography and faultless re-enactment.I couldn't imagine them making it
any more realistic without having actually been there to record the events. Gripping. A few
observations;
spoiler space
spoiler space
spoiler space
I felt that they didn't emphasise strongly enough the impact that not packing an extra gas canister
had on the trip. It's a while since I read the book but I am sure that this came out more in the
text. If they had had the extra fuel then they would not have had to push on during the worst of the
weather and would probably have avoided Joe's accident.
I didn't think Simon came out of it too well. My wife said that he should have gone to look and
that's my gut feel too but it's easy to forget that he was only 21 at the time and under an
incredible amount of pressure. The facts remain that if he hadn't cut the rope then they both would
have died. Would that have been right ?
They were incredibly lucky. They didn't prepare properly, they were cocksure and complacent
(probably an attribute of thier youth more than anything else) and one of them should have died. It
made me wonder how often every year the same scenario is played out around the world with different
results. Will this heroic tale encourage and inspire some people to climb who should ;-)
An otherwise superbly realised piece of cinema, unlike Lost In Transalation, which we also saw
yesteray and which fails miserably to live up to its billing. Good soundtrack, however.
Chris

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John And Paulin
Archived post

16 January 2004, 08:10 UTC #2

Its out on DVD 15th March. John.

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Bernard Hill
Archived post

16 January 2004, 08:10 UTC #3

In article <[email hidden]>, Chris Gilbert
<[email hidden]> writes
Quoted message said:
OK, my turn. Saw it last night.
Great great film. Superb cinematography and faultless re-enactment.I couldn't imagine them making
it any more realistic without having actually been there to record the events. Gripping. A few
observations;
Quoted message said:
I felt that they didn't emphasise strongly enough the impact that not packing an extra gas canister
had on the trip. It's a while since I read the book but I am sure that this came out more in the
text. If they had had the extra fuel then they would not have had to push on during the worst of
the weather and would probably have avoided Joe's accident.
Agreed. I had to explain to my son who saw the film with me that that was the real cause of the
problem. It was clear in the book.
Quoted message said:

I didn't think Simon came out of it too well. My wife said that he should have gone to look and
that's my gut feel too but it's easy to forget that he was only 21 at the time and under an
incredible amount of pressure. The facts remain that if he hadn't cut the rope then they both would
have died. Would that have been right ?
I did like the honesty of Simon when he said he never even thought about it. Once he remembered a
pocket knife in his rucksack (was that in the book?) he just did it.
Bernard Hill Selkirk, Scotland

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Bernard Hill
Archived post

16 January 2004, 08:10 UTC #4

In article <[email hidden]>, John and Pauline at Thornbury
<[email hidden]> writes
Quoted message said:
Its out on DVD 15th March. John.
Excellent. Thanks!
Bernard Hill Selkirk, Scotland

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Sandy Saunders
Archived post

16 January 2004, 08:10 UTC #5

Quoted message said:
Great great film. Superb cinematography and faultless re-enactment.I couldn't imagine them making
it any more realistic without having actually been there to record the events.
Looking forward to it arriving on the south coast ......... hopefully not too long either.
--
Sandy Saunders @ www.thewalkzone.co.uk
'Mountains or Mole Hills ... summiting still brings
the same excitement'

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Paul Richardson
Archived post

16 January 2004, 08:10 UTC #6

On 12 Jan 2004 00:51:27 -0800, [email hidden] (Chris
Gilbert) said:
OK, my turn. Saw it last night.
Great great film. Superb cinematography and faultless re-enactment.I couldn't imagine them making
it any more realistic without having actually been there to record the events. Gripping.
Totally agree!
Also the first time in a film that I have had to stay on and watch all the credits, 'cos the
"Assistant Sound Re-Recording Editor" is my nephew, Richard Davey!
Name-dropping or what?
(You have to admit that sorround-sound falling ice in the crevasse is pretty impressive, though
Richard admits that they were persuaded to make it echo like a cathedral, because that's what most
of us would imagine. In reality, apparently, the snow absorbs sound and there's little or no echo.)
Paul Leigh Lancs

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Bryan Hall
Archived post

16 January 2004, 08:11 UTC #7

I keep waiting, but general release just doesn't seem to be on the cards, out here in the suburbs
Hopefully a couple of award nominations might speed things up!
Bryan Dorzet
"sandy saunders" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:L8AMb.1717$JL4.11984@newsfep4-
glfd.server.ntli.net...
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
Great great film. Superb cinematography and faultless re-enactment.I couldn't imagine them
making it any more realistic without having actually been there to record the events.
Looking forward to it arriving on the south coast ......... hopefully not too long either.
--
Sandy Saunders @ www.thewalkzone.co.uk
'Mountains or Mole Hills ... summiting still brings the same excitement'

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Jimf
Archived post

16 January 2004, 09:05 UTC #8

Bernard Hill said:
In article <[email hidden]>, Chris Gilbert
<[email hidden]> writes
Quoted message said:
OK, my turn. Saw it last night.
Great great film. Superb cinematography and faultless re-enactment.I couldn't imagine them making
it any more realistic without having actually been there to record the events. Gripping. A few
observations;
Quoted message said:
I felt that they didn't emphasise strongly enough the impact that not packing an extra gas
canister had on the trip. It's a while since I read the book but I am sure that this came out more
in the text. If they had had the extra fuel then they would not have had to push on during the
worst of the weather and would probably have avoided Joe's accident.
Agreed. I had to explain to my son who saw the film with me that that was the real cause of the
problem. It was clear in the book.
Quoted message said:
I didn't think Simon came out of it too well. My wife said that he should have gone to look and
that's my gut feel too but it's easy to forget that he was only 21 at the time and under an
incredible amount of pressure. The facts remain that if he hadn't cut the rope then they both
would have died. Would that have been right ?
I did like the honesty of Simon when he said he never even thought about it. Once he remembered a
pocket knife in his rucksack (was that in the book?) he just did it.
Bernard Hill Selkirk, Scotland
Saw the film last friday.... Its one of those can't judge unless you were there situations, however,
what made my blood run cold was the the actual timing, another couple of hours and the outcome could
have been totally different, imagine having all this on your mind. This is interesting as well.....
guardian.co.uk0,12102,1089287,00.html
jimf

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