Meru

Wow, this is one of the greatest viewing experiences I've ever had. The whole film put yourself as one of the team climbers with these three great, stubborn, die-hard, totally obsessed mountain climbers. What a cathartic therapy viewing journey! The Meru is just part of the Himalaya but more pure and an absolutely non-commercial summit unlike the Everest. We didn't see any littered garbage like what we usually saw along the route to Everest. When I watched this film, I couldn't help thinking of those films related to the mountain climbing: K2, Into The Thin Air, Everest, Cliff Hanger, Vertical Limit, even a old thriller, The Elgar Sanction. But this particular film would stand out quite uniquely. A simple narration, not exaggerated, not pretentious, not self-important or self-promoted with strong commercial stink. And the camera work, my, so crystal sharp and beautiful. I think 'Everest 2015' is way off the chart if compares to this one, plain and simple.

If you have the chance to watch this film, don't miss it, folks.

Nothing like a good documentary about people doing spectacular things to inspire you to do great.

Three mountain climbers attempt to reach the top of an impossible mountain. Despite failing to reach the top their first time around, the impossible task does not stop them from trying again.

It's amazing insight about Mountain climbing as we watch these men doing what they love doing and were met to do. It's seems crazy what they are doing and the doc does not hide how crazy it is but it also makes you understand that they had to do it cause this is their passion.

The footage from Jimmy Chin was perfect at capturing the harsh conditions of the weather on top of Meru. One image that really got to me was when the mountain started to poor down hard ice. You could not even call it rain or hale. It seemed brutal.

Then they would switch it up with beautiful shoots of climbers going up the hill in such a beautiful atmosphere. I could feel the crisp air.

It helps a lot how close the filmmakers are to the subject matter. Though the narration could be dull at times overall it's a beautiful picture.

Appreciate Meru, for it is rare that a documentary, or movie in general, able to bring audience in such inspiringly immersive journey. This is more than just a trip to the titular location, it's a private real life struggle of the climbers which we as viewers may not fully understand, yet it's presented with incredible honesty and amazing visual spectacle.

The documentary spans across many years of the climbers' lives, including all the trials and tribulations they must endure. There's myriad of behind-the-scene video making involved as well as testimony of friends and families. Everything is done with polished approach and this honest nature welcomes audience even if they're not into mountaineering.

What's great about this is how they talk about the darkest days in very professional manner. Having to describe one's own intimate fear and life altering experience can't be easy, however the filmmakers still present them with composure. It is rarely that they are emotional when delivering the narrative, even if it's involving a very personal subject, yet the appreciation for the extreme sport and the determination are highly riveting. It also displays the hazard strikingly well one can't help being absorbed in their excursion.

The rest of it doesn't even need words as the documentary captures beautifully taxing landscape. It offers so much clarity before and during the climb itself, from the preparation, trip in the cities before to the physically exhausting climb. There is no five minutes spent without scenery worthy of being wallpapers or posters.

Meru is a visually stunning journey accompanied by brave and inspiring fellows. It is more than most movies wish they could convey.

Elite climbers on a previously unattainable peak are just one level of this film which digs deeply into dreams, goals, dedication and hardship made all the more inspirational when the viewer realizes the insanely remote, high altitude, and technical location that this story was shot in. Watching the climbing on MERU is as foreign to most of us as landing on another planet yet the film has all of the human elements that we crave, portrayed in powerful honesty. During the final scenes, I realized that each of the three main characters had their own well-developed back story filled with intense personal struggles yet the three characters were equally compelling and developed to the point that I was filled with flash-backs of the film that I carry with me to this day, nearly 6 months after my first viewing. There has never been another climbing genre documentary like MERU.

Be careful around the shark's fin. It's a warning that swimmers might utter – and mountain climbers too. The Shark's Fin is the most challenging route up the most challenging of the three peaks of Meru, which is part of the Himalayas of northern India. The documentary "Meru" (R, 1:27) traces two separate attempts by a trio of climbers trying to be the first to reach the top of Meru Peak, via the Shark's Fin.

Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, and Renan Ozturk are three of the most famous mountain climbers in the world, largely for their experiences on Meru Peak. Anker had become famous for his climbs in Antarctica and the Himalayas, one of which led to his discovery of 1920s' climber George Mallory's body on Mount Everest. Jimmy Chin had made a name for himself as both a climber and videographer who documented his climbs, as well as the expeditions of others. Anker and Chin were climbing partners for years when they took on Ozturk, a young but accomplished climber, for their 2008 expedition up the Shark's Fin.

This film tells us about and shows us the trio's 2008 and 2011 Meru expeditions and the momentous events in between. Heading up the mountain with them in 2008, we learn about why the Shark's Fin is uniquely challenging, uniquely dangerous and an irresistible goal for serious climbers like these. When the men come heartbreakingly close to reaching their goal, but have to turn back, we feel for them, even as we hear them talking about making another attempt. Their bodies and minds have to recover before they go back to India to try again, and life has to be lived. There are other climbs and other jobs for each of the three men to do while they plan their second trip to the Shark's Fin. When two of the three men have near-death experiences on separate occasions, serious questions arise. Who will make up the team on a second attempt? Given what's happened, can they succeed this time? Will they? "Meru" uses interviews with the trio to explain how they got together and describe their experiences on Meru. Anker's friend and fellow climber, Jon Krakauer, who wrote "Into Thin Air" (which was made into the 2015 film "Everest") also sits for an interview which sheds a significant amount of light on the story of the three Shark's Fin climbers, their expeditions, and mountain climbing in general. Most of "Meru", however, is made up of video shot by Chin and Ozturk on Meru Peak. The interview clips are succinct and informative, but it's the on-site video which gives this documentary its drama and its immediacy. I would have liked to hear more about what makes them do what they do and a bit of what happened in each of their lives after their second attempt to climb the Shark's Fin, but few criticisms can take much away from this remarkable film – one of the most fascinating and engaging documentaries of 2015. "A-"