Broad Peak

This is a typical film that should not have been made. The story that may have happened is not interesting for a moment. The scenes are sloppily tied together where there is hardly a story to discover. Apart from the fact that I do not understand mountain climbers, this is the worst film I have ever seen about the subject. The story is incoherent and the actors do not seem to be interested. I watched it for half an hour and then I knew, not worth it. It remains a shame that there are film makers who are not able to film this kind of subject better. In a word, a soporific, sloppy work, a waste of my time.

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.

The breathtaking mountain climbing shots - especially when they pan out and show you where the climbers are in relation to the size of the mountain - is terrifying - how they get up these sheer ice faces is just amazing. I found most of the film very gripping and my only issue is that the time lag between the first attempt to climb Broad Peak and the second attempt is supposed to be 25 years later. This length of time seems more like a few years as all you see the main character doing is some joinery and giving some school talks etc. Plus he and his wife look no different 25 years later. I had to go and check that it really was 25 years later. Just a quibble though.

A "lite" version of the ascent of Broad Peak by Polish high altitude mountaineer Maciej Berbeka. The story is not too bad, but predictable. Similar movies like EVEREST are more gripping with better editing.

That said, this movie holds its place based on true events. It's so important in this sport to know your limits, to know when to let go and to never let ego take control.

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.