Grido di pietra

"Scream of Stone" tells of a happenstance competition between a mountain climber and a rock climber to see who is first to the top of a foreboding 3000 ft needle of rock and ice in Patagonia, South America. As with most Herzog flicks, the film is rough hewn and one can imagine the filming crew is having more of an adventure than the characters. Plodding, dull at times, and subpar on most counts the film does feature some good climbing scenes. Pass on this one unless you're into climbing.

This movie left me with mixed feelings. The filmography is beautiful but the acting not quite.

The good thing is that it is really a climbing movie, not an action movie wrapped up into a mountain scenery (like Cliffhanger or Vertical Limit). Some of the actors are real (and good) climbers and one gets a glimpse of the climbing ethics (or lack thereof when sponsors come into the field).

The scenario is very loosely based on the story of the first ascent of Cerro Torre, a hard Patagonian peak. Definitely worth seeing if you are into climbing.

Brad Dourif (Billy in Cukoo's Nest, Hazel in Wise Blood and the voice of Chucky) is hilarious as Fingerless, the other characters are the usual pathetic humanoids struggling with their dreams and weaknesses. The mountain is the obstacle to life's fulfillment, people are dammed to pursue their dreams to their own destruction and only the old woman in the house at the base of the mountain knows what life is all about. Call it documentary fiction with a cameo by Donald Sutherland as the climber's agent. My favorite scene has "Alpinists" on a fake German TV show debating the climbers using some of Herzog's usual crew of character actors to give that Alpine authenticity.

Boy am I glad Herzog finally found a vehicle to display his positive side.

This is probably one of Herzog's least known films in States,but it's definitely worth seeking out.As always his visuals are stunning.Especially in the Climbing sequences.There is this really great shot of the younger climber hanging on the edge of the cliff ,and the way Herzog holds this shot and let's us absorb it .He always has things like that in his movies,that's one of the things that makes a Werner herzog much more than just another movie.A note to Herzog fans,you'll find all of his trademarks in this movie if you look close enough.

Im a mountain climber and love to watch movies about climbing, that stated most movies in this genre usually have really fake seaming climbing scene for example Cliff hanger with S Stalone climbing a huge wall in the Rockies(really Dolomites in Italy) with all the gear but using none of it or the bolt gun?(no such thing). Scream of Stone has plenty of fake stuff to stay in my contrived genre but is way more real, shot in Patigonia with a story by very famous climber (R Messner). There are some very real seaming climbing in this film. For a climbing film this is a ten as a real movie its really a five I gave it a eight as a compromise. All climbers will love this film enjoy