Nanga Parbat - L'ascension extrême

I have a limited understanding of this film so am writing this review only because there were no other reviews yet. My understanding is limited because I do not speak German and apparently there has been no release of this film with English subtitles, or at least I could not find one (I did find some English subtitles on the internet but they were both badly out of synch and a mashed Google translation from Russian!). Hence, some of the dialog was rather lost on me and very likely some of the drama as well.

I primarily viewed this film not for the story but in the hopes of spectacular mountain scenery and spectacular mountain climbing sequences. There was some of this, but not nearly enough for my tastes, or I would have given the film a higher rating. A better film (also German but available with English subtitles) is North Face (Nordwand, IMDb #tt0844457) which is both very dramatic and has very spectacular mountain climbing sequences (although I still wanted more there as well).

To my mind, the best parts of the film took place in Pakistan and in the Pakistani Himalayan foothills. Very nice and interesting photography, and I gleaned from the credits that it was actually filmed there. I love seeing exotic locales like that, which I am unlikely to see otherwise, and I found the film worth my time just for that. I would watch it again if I could find a version with good English subtitles.

I finally got an opportunity to watch Nanga Parbat, which was dedicated to the Messner brothers. You do not witness exciting movie scenes in the first half hour, but you are definitely not bored. Then the tempo drops considerably and the film becomes too far from realism. I can say that I find the performances of the players inadequate and it is impossible to establish an emotional connection. The only good thing was the childhood scenes of the Messner brothers. This movie could have been better. Unfortunately I had to close the movie before it was finished.

They could leave death as an outcome and surprise, but in the initial scenes we already have the weight of guilt falling on the brother, I took pity on this family... Dreams realized and uninterrupted by fatality, perhaps the right word is stubbornness, or determination ... story was more interesting than the film, too dispersed...

It's an absolute shame that this movie is the legacy Reinhold Messner wishes to leave of himself.

Despite desperately trying to portray himself as an idealistic hero, he comes out as a shallow egomaniac.

If anything it makes you question the narrative protagonist wants us to remember, which under the guise of heroic achievement is just a bunch of baloney.

The movie itself is a bag of cheap tricks cobbled together on a budget. The play is dull, characters are flat, music is out of place.

Should you watch it? If you had any illusions about Reinhold, you should. Be prepared to have your childhood idol crushed.

The true story about the Meissner brothers is so exciting in itself, that it ought to have been possible to make a really suspenseful, exciting, dramatic and emotional movie out of it. This is, however, not the case.

The movie is amateurish, low budget (to its disadvantage), and even at times boring. Also, things were not explained enough for those of us who are not into mountaineering, and who did not know the story of these brothers beforehand.

I got the impression that this was merely a collection of loose scenes, made as illustrations in moving pictures to a story, that the audience was already supposed to know.