March 30, 2004 -- “Touching the Void” is an astonishing docudrama about an incredible tale of survival by two mountain climbers trapped in the high Andes mountains of Peru. The actual incident happened in 1985. The two climbers were Simon Yates and Joe Simpson. The entire incident is recreated in the film with actor Nicholas Aaron playing Simon Yates and Brendan Mackey playing Joe Simpson. Yates and Simpson are also in the film, explaining what happened, and what they were feeling and thinking as events unfold. Their interviews are cut into the entire length of the film. The film was shot on location, capturing the stark, hostile beauty of the Andes.

Yates and Simpson were attempting something never done before, climb the west face of Siula Grande, a mountain whose peak is more than 20,000 feet above sea level. The mountain is also very remote. Since the two were climbing alone, alpine-style without support and without a series of base camps, there would be no rescue if they got into trouble. They were on their own. Yates and Simpson made the summit after a very difficult climb, but got into trouble on the way down. Simpson fell and broke his leg. Yates decided to try and rescue Simpson by lowering him down the mountain 300 feet at a time by rope.

They were using two 150-foot ropes tied together. Because the knot would not fit through the lowering device, Simpson had to stop at that point and take slack off the rope so Yates could work the knot around the lowering mechanism. Simpson had to do the same thing at the end of the rope, so that Yates could safely work his way down to him, in order to start the lowering process again. This one-man rescue, almost unheard of in mountaineering, was working until Simpson slid over the edge of a cliff. In the weather conditions, neither man could see the cliff, and neither could communicate with the other. Simpson could not climb up to take slack off the rope, and Yates could not descend the mountain without falling out of control because of the extra weight on the rope. Yates waited as long as he could and then did the only thing he could think of doing before he lost his foothold. He cut the rope. Simpson fell 150 feet into a deep crevasse.

Yates barely managed to make it back to the base of the mountain, negotiating a dangerous glacier crossing alone. He was utterly convinced that Simpson could not have survived the long fall, even though he could not see the body in the deep crevasse. Yet Simpson did manage to survive. How he did so comprises the bulk of the story. This unbelievable tale of survival is highlighted by tremendous location cinematography by Mike Eley (“The Blues” TV miniseries documentary) and Keith Partridge. The recreation of the climbing scenes is very convincing. The whole movie drips with authenticity, a byproduct of director Kevin Macdonald's (“One Day in September”) documentary heritage and the documentary style he brings to the film. It also is a byproduct of the decision to film on location. There are a number of scenes where the viewer is baffled how in the world the filmmakers managed to get the shot at all, let alone make it look so perfect. This film rates a B+.

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Copyright © 2004 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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