Review of The Summit (2013) by Ian T — 13 Dec 2013

Much like George MacDonald's Touching the Void, Nick Ryan tells the story of a tragic mountain climbing expedition with interviews, archive footage and re-enactments. The Summit talks about the 2008 K2 disaster - an international K2 expeditions where eleven people lost their lives.

In order to get a solid and compact version of the truth about what happened during those tragic days on the second highest mountain in the world, he collaborates directly with some of the members of that expedition and even Pemba Gyalje Sherpa, who was named adventurer of the year by National Geographic.

From the start, it is made perfectly clear that this film is not interested in being a niche documentary for the mountaineering community and would much rather resemble be an engaging and tense thriller set in high altitude.

In doing so, Ryan not only explores the more intimate personal tragedies with an acceptable level of taste and by never letting the film fall into the uncomfortable grounds of exploitation. He also gives himself time and space to ask himself questions about the psychological reasons behind these people's determination to set off on these dangerous and often deadly trips in spite of the fact that, as mentioned throughout the documentary, history and even the media is much more interested in its tragedies than its achievements.

This is not a perfect documentary - the non-linear structure is unnecessary and sometimes breaks the story's power on top of deeply affecting its pace. However, The Summit remains undoubtedly very suspenseful and gripping film from start to end.