Beyond the Edge

"If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go." Edmund Hillary

I don't know about you, but climbing a thousand feet up a hill is not my idea of fun, much less going over 29,000 feet to the summit of Mt. Everest as Edmund Hillary did heroically in 1953. Writer/director Leanne Pooley in Beyond the Edge has done the next best thing, thrilling me with old footage and expert re-enactment to help me understand the heroics necessary to pull off that feat.

In other words, her Beyond the Edge is a successful documentary that doesn't rely on fake sets and swelling orchestration to tell the story of Col. John Hunt's (John Wraight) expedition, in which Hillary (Chad Moffitt) is given the opportunity to be the first human to reach the summit with the help of Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (Sonam Sherpa). Although this doc doesn't have the suspense of Touching the Void, it is a realistic rendering in the spirit of Sir Ernest Shackelton's doomed Antarctica expedition told in The Endurance.

While Hillary has a hairy moment of slipping over an edge only to be saved by Tenzing, the rest is an authentic depiction of slow ascent with the usual challenges of rapidly-declining oxygen and impending monsoons.

It's the measured pace I like, the strategizing and assessing, done with the cool you'd expect from seasoned climbers, some of whom have been disciplined military officers. The intercutting with shots from the past and narration by Hillary, his son, Hunt, and George Lowe, among others, works seamlessly to give you the feeling you're carrying a backpack.

As for the 3-D, I'm not always a fan, but here it works well enough not to be distracting. A few bees enter and exit the frame to no spectacular effect, but otherwise the experience is enhanced by the semblance of reality. As for the ambition and ego necessary to make it to the top, Hillary expressed it well:

"No one remembers who climbed Mount Everest the second time."

This documentary looks at the pivotal moment when two men became the first to reach the summit of the highest mountain on Earth. These men were of course Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay, and the mountain was Mount Everest. Even to this day it is a very dangerous exercise climbing this mountain, after all until recently if you wished to do so you had to pass a large number of dead bodies on your ascent; corpses that simply hitherto could not be removed due to the sheer difficulty of doing so. But there is no doubt that it has become considerably easier to reach the summit nowadays than it was back in 1953 when it was first navigated. Back then, there was still an element of doubt as to whether it was going to even be possible, as the equipment devised was only theoretical until successfully used. This documentary looks at the first successful expedition and captures all of their inner doubts and fears about what they are about to attempt but also their excitement. The film quite successfully transmits this to the audience.

It's been shot in 3D and it's pretty justified, as the format is quite good at illustrating the precariousness of the climb and the visual effects overall gave a pretty good feeling of the view the men must have been presented with. I was struck in particular with the scenes showing where the men camped on the last night before finally ascending to the summit. It was literally on a cliff face, with howling winds outside. The men spent the night here drinking boiled snow. It is an almost surreal image and its details like this that I took away mostly from this film. Once we reach the summit, we are treated to a very nice slow 360 degree pan that beautifully shows the height and beauty of the Himalayas.

There is not a lot of real filmed footage of the expedition but we see a little of what there is. Mainly the film is made up of archive photographs along with dramatic reconstructions of the climb, with commentary made up of archive interviews from the men and new accounts from surviving relatives. The reconstructions are well done, with well-chosen actors who really resemble the real people. All things considered, this is a very successful documentary about one of the key historical adventures.

This is a matter of fact description with pictures of Hillary's climb of Mount Everest in 1953. The documentary lacks drama and emotion and really is not that technical either. It does give some understanding of the route taken and hardship of the climb but at times it felt like watching a news real account of the event without any real depth or insight into the characters of those involved. Sorry to say even the 3D aspect wasn't enough to keep my interest. The one stunning view was from the summit but outside of that the 3D aspect was never fully achieved to make the viewing any better than two dimensional. Unfortunately the story is well known and generally the audience has more knowledge of the event than what the movie relates. Disappointing.

1st of all i want to thank the director for making this amazing and worth watching documentary. I liked this documentary from start to end.It kept me excited all the way because of some of the amazing camera work that i have seen yet. I am already a mountain lover and after watching this movie i can't control my love for the mountains and for the amazing nature that has been documented in this documentary. I would recommend this movie for anyone but especially for those who are more forgiving towards nature and for the people who like mountain's climbing e.t.c If you want to see a perfect made documentary on the ascent of the highest peak of earth then you have to look nowhere else.This documentary film presents every thing that is needed for a documentary to be an awesome documentary. From me i would rate this movie 10 out of 10. Love it amazing experience.

What a fantastic movie about an epic achievement. You really feel like you were with them through the expedition to the final crowning moment, and you really appreciate the monumental achievement that it was, and the courage and effort it required. It has the feel of the classic age of exploration and is befitting of its topic and the times. The recreations are very convincing and flow seamlessly with the archival footage. The somewhat restrained tone of the film fits well with the manner of Ed Hillary and the rest of the British expedition. The original narration by Ed Hillary, again highly restrained, juxtaposes against their monumental accomplishment, and I think it is a nice and fitting touch. The memory of the film remains afterwards, and I think the film is a fitting tribute to the men and the event.