Meru (15.)
Directed by Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.
Featuring Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, Renan Ozturk, Jon Krakauer, Grace Chin and Jennifer Lowe-Anker. Released on February 90 mins.
Though I'm not much interested in mountain climbing, Touching The Void, the documentary about two British climbers' desperate struggle for survival after disaster hits during an expedition in South America, is one of the most moving films I've ever seen – it says something fundamental and humbling about what it is to be human. Meru is about three climbers, Anker, Chin and Ozturk, and their obsession with becoming the first people to conquer the notoriously difficult Shark's Fin peak of the titular Himalayan mountain in northern India. I'm not sure if it says much about being human but it says a lot about being a mountain climber, and the supercharged tedium of mountain climbing.
It starts off as a straightforward but incredibly intimate and detailed account of an extremely challenging and difficult assent. Climbing unclimbed mountains is one thing; filming yourself climbing unclimbed mountains is quite another. Chin and Ozturk have done wonders in capturing both the awe inspiring spectacle of clinging to life 20,000 feet in the air but also the drab mundanities that you need to endure – huddling up in a tent, heating up the food, carrying the supplies.
After a half hour the film stops being a climbing procedural and become a much wider look at the mountain climbing world and the back stories of these three men. It reveals the day-to-day practicalities of mountain climbing, but the mountaineers themselves remain largely unknowable. When asked why he does it Anker replies “the view.” Why do people with homes, families and people who love them, risk all that for what is ultimately a rather narcissistic pursuit. Mountain climbing is one of those extreme sports that advertisers love to bombard the armchair masses with to make us feel dissatisfied with our lots – don't sit there being a consumer, go out and surf and bungee jump and explore and be a consumer. Other than being incredibly uncomfortable, painful and harsh, climbing is inordinately dull. They move so slowly, carefully carefully testing each ledge and foothold because they know that if they ever let their concentration slip they could all die. It's like a Russian Roulette version of being a stop motion animator.
Directed by Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.
Featuring Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, Renan Ozturk, Jon Krakauer, Grace Chin and Jennifer Lowe-Anker. Released on February 90 mins.
Though I'm not much interested in mountain climbing, Touching The Void, the documentary about two British climbers' desperate struggle for survival after disaster hits during an expedition in South America, is one of the most moving films I've ever seen – it says something fundamental and humbling about what it is to be human. Meru is about three climbers, Anker, Chin and Ozturk, and their obsession with becoming the first people to conquer the notoriously difficult Shark's Fin peak of the titular Himalayan mountain in northern India. I'm not sure if it says much about being human but it says a lot about being a mountain climber, and the supercharged tedium of mountain climbing.
It starts off as a straightforward but incredibly intimate and detailed account of an extremely challenging and difficult assent. Climbing unclimbed mountains is one thing; filming yourself climbing unclimbed mountains is quite another. Chin and Ozturk have done wonders in capturing both the awe inspiring spectacle of clinging to life 20,000 feet in the air but also the drab mundanities that you need to endure – huddling up in a tent, heating up the food, carrying the supplies.
After a half hour the film stops being a climbing procedural and become a much wider look at the mountain climbing world and the back stories of these three men. It reveals the day-to-day practicalities of mountain climbing, but the mountaineers themselves remain largely unknowable. When asked why he does it Anker replies “the view.” Why do people with homes, families and people who love them, risk all that for what is ultimately a rather narcissistic pursuit. Mountain climbing is one of those extreme sports that advertisers love to bombard the armchair masses with to make us feel dissatisfied with our lots – don't sit there being a consumer, go out and surf and bungee jump and explore and be a consumer. Other than being incredibly uncomfortable, painful and harsh, climbing is inordinately dull. They move so slowly, carefully carefully testing each ledge and foothold because they know that if they ever let their concentration slip they could all die. It's like a Russian Roulette version of being a stop motion animator.
