Touching the Void (2003)
Directed by Kevin MacDonald
Written by Documentary
Starring Brendan Mackey, Nicholas Aaron, Ollie Ryall
Release Date December 12th, 2003
Published December 12th, 2003
I am not much of an outdoorsman. I am especially not much of a climber, I once damn near killed myself on one of those plastic climbing walls, don't ask me how. So reading the book Touching The Void by Joe Simpson, detailing his unreal ascent from a mountain in Peru with a broken leg and a climbing party that assumed he was dead, was quite an experience. The book, however, is surpassed by this amazing docu-drama that combines the best of documentary filmmaking with re-enactments of what happened on that mountain in 1985, a story that was nearly never to be told.
In 1985, two friends from Britain were looking for a challenge. Having only been climbing for a little while Joe Simpson and his slightly more experienced partner Simon Yates felt they were ready for a real challenge and chose a large, snowy peak in the Andes mountain range in Peru. With a climbing party consisting of just them and another man, Richard Hawking, who remained at the base camp, the two made for the top of Siula Grande 21,000 feet high.
Climbing to the very top of the mountain was quite a challenge, especially with the constant snowstorms and freezing temperatures. However, Joe and Simon's real challenge would came on the way back down. Having made the peak in two days and looking down on the world, they were ready to go back to camp. There are no maps on the top of a mountain to tell you what is solid and what is just lightly packed snow. One false step and you could fall a long way. That is what happened to Joe Simpson.
Searching for the safest route to climb down, Simpson walked to the edge of a snow shelf to look over the side when the shelf broke and Joe fell. Thankfully he was tied at the waste with Simon but that was not enough to keep him from hitting the ground hard and breaking his leg. This is a serious injury at any altitude but on this high peak, in this weather, it's a veritable death sentence. Simon could leave Joe and go for help but by the time he could get to base camp (it's a three day walk back to the main road and still a few hours drive to get to civilization), it might be too late.
Simpson tells us that he would not have blamed Simon for leaving him and was in fact a little surprised that he didn't. Instead, they attempted a very complicated descent that put both their lives in great danger. Simon, using all of the rope they had, slowly lowered Joe as far as the rope would go. Then, he would climb down to where Joe was and lower him again. Having to cover some 20,000 feet of mountain with three hundred feet of rope, this took a while. They worked through the night, with no sleep and even colder temperatures.
Things get worse when another snow shelf causes Joe to fall, this time with Simon too far away to know what happened. Joe is dangling over the side of a snow shelf unable to reach the wall and brace himself. Simon is left to wonder if Joe has succumbed to the cold or blood loss from his injury and is forced to make a difficult decision that pits his life against that of Joe's. Should Simon assume Joe is dead and cut the rope, thus saving his own life? Or, hope that Joe is alive and can correct the problem and continue the climb? Simon's decision has been debated ever since among climbers and laymen alike.
What is most amazing about Touching The Void is the combination of documentary-style narration of Simon, Joe and Richard alongside actors Nicholas Aaron, Brenden Mackey and Ollie Ryall re-enacting the climb on the actual mountain in Peru and the slightly safer Alps. Yates and Simpson narrate the action, which shows that they survived this amazing ordeal and yet the action is so well-directed by filmmaker Kevin McDonald (Oscar winner for One Day In September), that the suspense is still palpable.
People have been trying to turn the book Touching The Void into a live-action feature since it was published in 1990. Sally Field had once been in line to direct the film with Tom Cruise as Simpson but something about this story escapes a traditional narrative. Invented dialogue and traditional movie structured storytelling just doesn't seem right for this.
Kevin McDonald's docu-drama approach is the clearly the perfect way to attack this material. The actors resemble Yates and Simpson so well and the situations described in the on camera interviews and voiceover so well rendered you can't escape the feeling of actually being there. You feel as if you are inside the memories of Yates and Simpson and that is a truly amazing feeling.
