User reviews

Your appreciation of this movie will be directly related to your own interest in matters of faith. Those of Christian faith (such as myself) and those with an interest in Christian faith will appreciate the values contained here; those who are antagonistic to Christian faith will find the evangelistic emphasis of the movie distasteful. Of course, my question would be why anyone antagonistic to an evangelical Christian message would watch a movie produced by World Wide Pictures, which is an arm of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association?

I don't like movies that have a hidden agenda (even a hidden evangelistic agenda) but here the agenda is clear-cut and expected, so it didn't bother me. The story is interesting enough, focusing around two young mountain climbers (Jason George and Ned Vaughn) who suddenly find themselves with an unexpected opportunity to team up and climb the highest peak in the Chilean Andes. Derrick Williams (George) is an angry atheist, while Michael Harris (Vaughn) is a faithful Christian. The relationship between the two grows as they train and then climb together, culminating in the totally predictable religious conversion of Derrick. Of course, the real suspense in this kind of movie is not whether the atheist is going to convert; it's what the chain of events leading to the conversion will be, and that was a decent enough story.

Featuring the likes of Dabney Coleman, Clifton Davis and Todd Bridges, you'll find this an entertaining story as long as the overtly religious tone of it isn't something that will turn you off.

7/10

PROS

+ The movie puts the spotlights on opposing selfishness, and is today more relevant than 22 years ago. Our culture is now saturated with those types of 'me, me, me'. I do that mountain on my own, I am my own boss in life, I, I, I. What a wonderful lesson Jason could learn in this movie, and is able to teach many others trapped in that selfish mentality today.

+ It elevates the family and the responsibilities of a father. At the same time it elevates the role of a father of the bride and shows how good protection looks alike, but also how biblical forgiveness should be alike.

CONS

• I never saw in a movie such a blatant endorsement, even including a closeup of one of his books. Billy Graham was one of the biggest frauds of Christian history, and this is also the reason why I sadly cannot promote this overall very good movie. (He was a great admirer of the 33° Mason Norman Vincent Peale; had a strong tendency towards Universalism; key figure in the ecumenical movement; used Roman Catholic lay people as supervisors and altar workers; close collaboration with the Vatican and the Pope; endorsement of female pastors)

• The advice Ned gives to the then girlfriend of Jason, when she was trying to get out of fornication, was 'we all go through periods like that'. This is a deeply troubling advise, which has contributed to the notion that it is ok in younger years to commit some 'mistakes', and then simply ask later for forgiveness.

While it might be true that THEOS can (and will upon repentance) forgive any sin, there is no assurance that we are ever drawn to the awareness of those sins and to the respective repentance. The further down the road, the more a miracle it requires getting out of it. But to the credit of this movie, this bad advice is obviously (and at least in parts) 'overwritten' by the later repentance of Jason.

• When Jason repents, he asks 'Jesus' to come into his heart. This is a formula foreign to the Bible and part of the evangelism scheme of Billy Graham, to enable him to count the 'conversions'. Another part of this scheme is the lifting of hands and then counting those lifted hands as saved people.

Two mountain climbers partner in the rescue of tycoon Dabney Coleman's son off a high peak. Jason George and Ned Vaughn aren't just different racially they have serious different approaches to life. Vaughn is white and a Christian, George is black and a skeptic to say the least. George is also keeping company with a believer in Kylie Santiago and her father Clifton Davis really does not like his son-in-law.

One reviewer is right about one thing, this Christian film from the Billy Graham Evangelical Association spent quite a bit of dough on this, especially the mountain climbing scenes. Coleman's company which got a windfall of good publicity decides to sponsor both these guys on a climb of the legendary Mount Chiconcagua in the Chilean Andes.

I was actually quite impressed with the 21st century technology used for mountain climbing. That 3 dimensional holograph was really something.

It's a Christian film, it's also a tragic one and it follows the usual parameters. But it's a great film technically if nothing else.

Was great to watch a movie where real life issues were dealt with but where you didn't have to get dragged through a sewer to figure out who was the bad guy. Jason George does a very convincing job of playing the know it all. Ned Vaughn is very good in the roll of the conservative, play it safe type. Good music sound track. Very beautiful scenery. I would have liked to see more climbing scenes, but the action that was in the movie was very well done. It makes you wonder who is the better climber. The actors, or the camera man who has to drag a camera up ahead and make all the climbs before the actors can be filmed doing their roles. Overall the movie was very well done. It was wonderful to watch a movie where your ears weren't assaulted every five minutes with a string of profanity from one of the actors. Two Thumbs Up!

This is a faith based mountain climbing film about two people from different worlds who decide to work together to achieve a lifelong dream of climbing a mountain peak. There are sub-plots to fill out the characters and the story which are all well done and even though the film is predictable it is engaging and entertaining. The film also has a great supporting cast of television character actors that you will recognize which helps to elevate the material (even if at times it feels like a TV movie of the week). I thought the two leads had very good chemistry and Dabny Coleman was an added bonus as he's always been a favorite of mine for years (and the number one reason why I decided to watch the film in the first place).

Religion is amply glorified in this uninspired climbing film. Everything about it seems more preachy than entertaining, and the opening scene is beyond ridiculous, with safety techniques put aside completely. While the film may send a reassuring religious message, the climbing tale it hangs on is very thin. I give this one point for the presence of the always interesting Dabney Coleman, and zero for entertainment value. Admirers of "Touching the Void" and other mountain climbing films are warned to steer clear of this "sermon on the mountain", unless a religious message movie is what you are looking for. ......... - MERK

this movie may be comforting,

to people who have a strong faith, but it

is SO racist.

the atheist is black and a jerk, where as the amazing white religious

guy is a understanding, safe climber who forgives the other man, 4 being an a-hole. and the end is just plain stupid.

if u r religious, u might like it (as i said up there) but if u have any sense u will see how offending it is.

this is offending junk that will make any1 with a good sense of what is right and what is distasteful

How many mountains can a man climb in one lifetime? How many mountains can one climb in one movie? Racial bias, pride, loss, hurt, pregnancy, corporate success, painful past, family dysfunction, unreached dreams... after watching this gospel presentation you'll understand how God can use each problem we face in life as a part of the climb home. Next time, take the high road.

The story was very captivating and thought-provoking. The scenery of the mountains was beautiful, and the story brought tears to my eyes.

One thing I didn't particularly like was the sort of cheesy acting of the Mackie's owner, but I guess he was just supposed to be that way.

Great story...see it, and remember the high road!

When I saw the movie, it left a "mark" in my mind, I kept remembering parts of it and had to watch it again. The scenery is awesome and beautiful.The sequence of the story keeps you interested from start to end. There are so many topics of our life sewn together and presented in this production, like our struggles with traumas from the past and our pursue of success. You see business trickery intertwined with the thirst of fame;life & death decisions and more. There is a little bit of everything for every taste in this movie, from the sport fan to the romantic. It is a movie that is up to date with our use of technology so when you see it you sense this is a movie of our present time. I highly recommend it and you will be surprised!

Contains real life scenarios that most people can relate to and is not at all preachy. They do give somewhat of a gospel message but are not at all in your face about it. Good acting, great production. Involves the lives of an unbeliever and a committed Christian forging a friendship based on a mutual goal. I really like that it portrays a relationship between the two men that is similar to relationships that I have had as a believer with unbelievers. This would be a great movie to watch with friends that you want to hear the gospel message without it seeming like you are showing them the movie just for that reason. I would highly recommend!

It is a breathtaking movie with all the aspects that a Christian movie should have. I could identify a lot of things about myself, before I became a Christian in 1999. Things like rejection in the family followed by feelings of hate and later forgiveness of sin and a good picture about what Jesus has done for us. Unlike the other person who gave his remarks about the movie, for Christians it's really important to see that Ned Vaughn tries to be a role model, being friendly even if he does not feel this way or rethinking his own mistakes and apologizing for it. It's really a good movie that can be played at evangelising gatherings and it's so exciting to watch that even unsaved people are not leaving the place and perhaps it will help them make a choice to ask Jesus into their lives.

This movie was better than I had expected. I really enjoyed it. It was both captivating and inspiring. It shows that anything is possible, and that two is better than one.

It's got a lot of deep themes, such as responsibility, friendship (two highly different men bond in a common vision), sacrificial love (risking one's life to save another's), capitalist greed vs social benevolence, stubborn pride as potentially dangerous (jumping a red light; not taking adrenaline help when needed), submission to deity (meaning of life), forgiveness (at various levels), and unborn life as precious and its own selfhood (not a callous, Your body, your choice pressure from a partner to avoid their moral responsibility).

There's good advice, such as times to let go of the past, and when getting to the next turn after moral falls, trying to take the high road and not to wallow in sin. It suffers from a common error of being 'born again'; asserting we're of value to God-nope, we're utterly superfluous but precious to him; and a more serious fallacy of God having died (no, it was God the son (not 'God') as a mortal human being (not as noncarnate son), who died): Antioch over Alexandria, so to speak.

The main story is of two guys (black (Derrick) & white (Michael)) being sponsored to take a dangerous mountain climb they both have longed to climb, viz Mount 'Chiconcagua' (Aconcagua?). There are subplots of profit over or under people, of lying vs honesty, and of pleasure over parenting (the latter includes the former). The climb doesn't go as well as hoped, but perhaps it goes far better. Judge for yourself.