thegreatape

I always find my viewing experience of the retelling of historical events ruined when I come across scenes which I know have been added for dramatic effect or when someone is played as a bad guy just to let us know who to root for.

The King's Speech was particularly guilty of the former, the portrayal of other teams in Glory Road had the latter, and The Imitation Game was shamelessly guilty of both. I'm not saying this made them bad films, but it certainly made me feel like the experience had strayed away from a retelling of the facts as known.

Everest is everything that is good in such a film. There is no needless good v evil addition and no leading the viewer to conclusions. It tells the story and I have since spent three or four days thinking about the hows, whys and wherefores... whilst knowing I will never find an answer.

The other touch that really elevates this film is that there are no added action sequences that have been added to make Everest more of an action move. The film makers have been intelligent enough to realise that climbing Everest does not need any exaggeration, the characters involved were three dimensional people, and the story was interesting enough not to need embellishment.

I expected an action film but left pleasantly surprised by a biopic with a light touch.

The one mark deduction is for the totally unnecessary 3D. The film absolutely didn't need me wearing dumb glasses to be three dimensional.

As a parent this was tough to watch, seeing how alone kids really are once they step out of the front door and are in the care of others. It was frightening to see the indifference and/or lack of any training that teachers have in this area.

This meant that it pretty much made for a frustrating watch, seeing kids who should be protected, and parents who wanted to bring about changes, going up against a system that is conditioned to sweep it under the carpet.

It is an important enough issue for this film to be essential watching for kids and parents alike.

My only issue was that I would have liked to have heard a little from the other side. I appreciate that this was a documentary about the victims but it would have been nice to see some kind of engagement with the people who are the cause of the issues for these kids.

Sometimes as a documentary maker, you hit the paydirt, I guess. This would be a totally uninspiring "We do it for the fans" tour DVD documentary if it were not for the film-makers' luck and the band's misfortune half way through. (I don't mean to be crass about the situation that occurred. I do sympathise. I just mean from a film-makers point of view it made the film something more than it ever would have been).

What then follows is a story of fellowship and friendship, watching a man walk the harder path to do what is right and find peace in himself. The sins of the past have been cleared away by sobriety and he now has the ultimate test of his resolution and of his new path. It is heartening to watch how he and others around him stand up and be counted.

I'm not gonna become a fan of Lamb Of God but I certainly loved this "right place, right time" piece of documentary making that was well crafted and told a human story behind what a lot of people may feel is devilish music.