Movie recounts 1996 tragedy

Everest is the retelling of the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster, where guides leading their clients up the mountain were all caught in a sudden blizzard, leading to the passing of eight people. The movie takes audiences to the extreme heights, peering down over the steep edge, showing the beautiful surroundings, the solemn desperation and  the danger of the situation.

Going into this film, I had never read the book about the event (Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, though the movie is not based on his account in the book) or heard of the event.  The movie shows the reality and intensity of the deadly climb, the emotion and the beauty, the deadliness of Everest. The cinematography is well composed but not purposefully attention-grabbing. The focus remains on the tragedy of the event.

The movie tracks a large cast of characters, so keeping track of who is who gets difficult when they’re in layers of snow clothes. The people portrayed include guide Rob Hall (Jason Clarke), and clients Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin), Doug Hansen (John Hawkes), Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori) and previously mentioned Jon Krakauer (Michael Kelly).

The actors did an excellent job at making the stress believable, capturing the human stubbornness and the push to survive. They were thrilling, facing heartbreak trial after trial. However, not to their fault, the story is quite un-relatable. Understandably, not many audience members make climbs like the climb up Everest. However, the movie still invokes somberness. It stands as a reminder of the importance of how short life can be, how to spend time, and how important others are. The goal is always to get every single person down the mountain safely, no matter what, in tragedy or just a regular climb.

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Viewed in IMAX, the spectacle of the heights and depths of Everest are dizzying. A ladder stretched across the deep blue and black, seemingly endless chasm is heightened to a sickening sense when a climber almost slips and falls in. The winds of the storm become such a normal part of the sound that when the scene cuts to a quiet house in the middle of the night, the silence is deafening. It has to be asked: Will the spectacle be lost outside of IMAX theaters? Some of the display undoubtedly will disappear when moved from the large curved screen and theater speakers to audience’s TVs and computers.

Everest is overall a warning and a reminder about the value of life. It’s an interesting watch. The theme and the emotions of the people could have better been explored, as well as the reactions of those who survived the event. The theme does not seem prevalent, but the compelling true story is still told. If instead the focus was more a theme or value than the drama of the event, the movie might of held up more.

In an interview with the LA Times, Krauker, author of Into Thin Air and there during the tragedy criticized the movie for inaccuracies. He stated no one approached him during filming and that it paints himself and the facts poorly. The director of Everest defended the film, saying four other people there during 1996 tragedy were consulted in the making of the film.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @ejLadd and via email: Emily Ladd.