Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
The true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' disastrous and nearly-fatal mountain climb of 6,344m Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
Touching the Void is a gripping docudrama reconstruction of one of mountaineering's most harrowing survival stories. The plot is genuinely extraordinary — Simpson's solo crawl back to base camp with a shattered leg after being left for dead is almost unbelievably tense, earning a well-above-average mark. The cinematography is exceptional, blending dramatic Andean location photography with visceral re-enactment footage that places viewers inside a brutal, indifferent landscape. The ending, both emotionally and structurally, lands with tremendous power given the circumstances. Acting from the interviewees and re-enactors is competent but uneven — the talking-head format keeps it from ascending higher. Novelty is solid but not singular; the hybrid docudrama form was not entirely new by 2003, though the film executes it with unusual intensity.