Review of Touching the Void (2003) by Senh D — 22 Sep 2004

The story of two climbers (Joe Simpson and Simon Yates) who succeed in climbing the west side of Siula Grande, only to encounter problems on the descent. Joe badly breaks his leg - and as both men acknowledge his chances of living are slim. Instead of leaving him Simon risks his own life trying to save his partner. Simon lowers Joe down with their rope, then climbs down to Joe and lowers him again. After a while Joe ends up hanging over a crevace with Simon unable to get down to him. Simon must cut the rope if he has any chance of survival, letting Joe drop to what seemed to be certain death.

This documentary cuts between talking heads of Simon, Joe and Richard Hawking (a man who stayed at base camp to wait for the two climbers) and between a re-creation of events, the two men are played by actors. The film is very gripping, even though you know that Joe managed to survive, it still seems very unlikely. It would seem that any documentary maker could make good of the story, but Kevin Macdonald an accomplished film-maker turns the story into an excellent film.