Broad Peak

Very little coverage of an actual Broad Peak expedition - the main reason ( in my opinion) most people actually watch movies about high mountaineering. Film focuses only on one member of an expedition, three other climbers hardly mentioned, like they didn't even matter at all. That's very disappointing and disrespectful. No interesting characters and storyline. Very unnecessary sex scene that didn't bring anything to the table. Film doesn't explain at all, what actually occurred on the mountain, what lead to the tragedy and what was the aftermath. Beautiful shots of the mountains is the only thing in favor for the movie.

This Polish true lifer is a solid ,watchable drama about conquering a hostile, treacherous mountain range with an ending that told both Laura and I by surprise. Up too that point I thought the last third act was too convient in its telling of our lead wanting to go back up to finish what he started. I never got the sense that for the last 25yrs he was pining on going up to the summit, that he was empty or lost, defeated. Add too the fact that he never received much re-training under such harsh conditions; just re -attempted it may have had an impact on his destiny after completing the summit trek? Nonetheless, this is a brave well told story.

I find movies about climbers strangely fascinating, since I don't have a clue about what pushes them to do crazy stuff that very often ends with death by hypothermia. Based on real events, the main character of this story is Maciej Berbeka, a Polish climber who attempted to reach Broad Peak in 1988, almost dying in the proceedings, only to be told that he stopped some 20 metres from the peak. To be noted, he stopped because he was exhausted and lost in a blizzard in terrible weather conditions. On the way down he almost died and he talked about his near death experience as awful, since he spent almost 24 hours in a hole in the snow at -40° at over 8000 mt. A reasonable person would probably not be willing to repeat such an experience, but 25 years later Maciej is contacted by the guy who organized the first expedition and asked to go again, with three much younger guys. After a short hesitation Maciej decides to go, stating that he needs "to finish what he started". It looked pretty much finished 25 years earlier to me, but the inevitable ensues, with a much older Maciej attempting another winter expedition with the younger guys just to prove... what exactly? The story is told in a rather boring way, with sparse dialogue and little to no insight into any characters minds. Makes you feel cold and despairing about human nature. Still, some interesting photography.