O Terremoto do Everest

Parts seem to drag a bit but for the most part, it moves along at a good pace.

There's a lot of skipping between locations and going back and forth in time- stick to a timeline and move forward. If there's backstory needed, then tell that first before moving ahead.

It's fascinating what people will rationalize in the name of survival, and at some point, for some people, surviving took a back seat.

I'll not give away one of the underlying plots, but will say that from the moment Yaar starts telling his version, it feels manipulative, gross and selfish. There's absolutely no reason to do what was done, and leaving items exactly where you found them would have allowed their family members to find it. I can completely understand the drive to survive and to find necessities to carry on but to do what he did should make him ashamed.

Over 9,000 people died in the 2015 Nepal earthquake. Practically all of them nepal people. And this documentary focusses mainly on the rich western people that were in "need" on Mount Everest. And their "need" isn't like that of people in e.g. Kathmandu that were buried alive under piles of concrete and steel. Their "need" was arising mostly from panic and/or despair.

The main issue that I want to raise, is that this documentary has its priorities wrong. It should not be primarily focussed on the stories of the rich western people whom use sherpa's - nepali people that carry all the food and supplies like oxygen - as slaves. No, it should instead be focussed on the real suffering that occured in villages and Kathmandu.

In the current setup, it is like there being a major earthquake in San Francisco and a TV company making a documentary about a couple of rich Russian Oligarchs. Oligarchs that would have been visiting the area of San Francisco with their capitalist boats/ships during the earthquake. And it would be these rich Oligarchs, which would be portrayed in that documentary as being the ones most in need and as the major victims of that San Francisco earthquake... That wouldn't be fair, would it?!

So mainly because of this issue, I for once decided to NOT give a rating. Why?! Because although I was captured by the immensely beautiful videoshots of the Mount Everest landscape, I think that the priorities are wrong. Giving this show a high IMDb rating would not be fair to all the suffering and neglect of where the real pain occured after this earthquake: i.e. The poor nepali people that were buried under the debris in cities and villages. And giving it a low IMDb rating would also not be fair. Because the documentary clearly has some positive things. I therefore hope that you can understand my reasoning for not rating this show/documentary.

As Episode 1 of "Aftershock - Everest and the Nepal Earthquake" (2022 release from the UK; 3 episodes; total running time 149 minutes) opens, it is "Saturday, 25 April 2015, Mount Everest", as we see several climbers at the Kumba Icefall just before noon, and a devastating avalanche is descending Everest. We then go to "Three Days Earlier, Everest Base Camp", as we are introduced to several of the climbers... At this point we are less than 5 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this documentary mini-series is directed by Olly Lambert ("One Day In Gaza"). Here Lambert looks back to the truly awful events that happened in Nepal. Please note that the documentary is misleadingly titled. Yes, Everest is featured, but only in about one-third of the movie, Another third deals with how people in Nepal's poorly constructed capital Kathmandu deal with the events. And another third deals with how people in the LangTang valley and village deal with the events. But of course "Aftershock - Kathmadu and the Nepal Earthquake" or "Aftershock - The LangTang Valley and the Nepal Earthquake" doesn't have the same ring to it... Along the way, people that survived it all now tell their tale. "We acted out of survival instinct", comments one. The documentary includes both amazing and frankly frightening footage. I don't recall having seen Kathmandu in such vivid detail. And we also get not only the very good, but also the very ugly (cue: the 3 Israelis... what in the world were they thinking?). Last but not least, please do not confuse this documentary with a 2022 documentary from the US simply called "Aftershock".

"Aftershock - Everest and the Nepal Earthquake" recently premiered on Netflix. I binge-watched all 3 episodes last night, and these 2 1/2 hours just flew by. If you are in the mood to see the devastation of a poor country (which also happens to have Mount Everest) caused by a massive earthquake, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Like most people, I remember the footage of the earthquake from Nepal in 2015. I remember seeing buildings collapse, fall apart and one or two avalanche videos. It was horrible. When I see this series was released on Netflix I figure I would watch it. Turns out its more then just some normal documentary where a narrator talks and they show you various things you have already seen before.

Instead it's a multi-episode series in which survivors share their stories, along with new footage from what it was like at ground level. Especially up on the various bases of Everest. At times you see footage and your heart races. In other cases you just see a person talking about something and you can see yourself in that situation and afraid.

This is an excellent documentary. You will get viewpoints from tourists to guides to the average citizens. It puts everything into even more perspective about how tragic the event was. And the pace of each episode is very nice. There are no rushed stories, no loud music trying to drum up emotion, just raw footage of people talking about the events and of course raw recorded footage from that day. I will say, while I don't think I could ever afford to travel to another country, nor handle mountain climbing, this documentary made me have zero interest in ever doing it. Seeing how dangerous it is. What happened literally happened in an instant on the mountain itself. People had zero warning or time to do anything but think their lives were about to end.

The ONLY thing annoying was in the last episode when the Israelis guys made excuses that they felt attacked and they were actually "good people". After a place was wiped out, they broke open a locked box and took all the money out. Then when caught people of course got mad. Then later then found a GPS device and didn't tell anyone because they were afraid for their lives. Give me a break guys, you are terrible people.

The real interviews and footage are amazing. The reenactments, less so. It is very interesting from a human interaction perspective. It is also heartbreaking sometimes, as you might imagine. Ever since reading "Into Thin Air, I have always been fascinated AND repulsed by Everest climbs. For the most part, they are for people that just have enough money to add the climb to their "accomplishments," all at the expense of the brave and competent sherpas that eke out a living from what has become a tourist destination. It's absurd really. The Langtang village interviews are eye-opening, that people can find conflict even when they should be working together.