With a few hours to spare, and a selection of unfamiliar movie titles from which to choose, I settled upon an early afternoon screening of 'To the Limit (2007),' Pepe Danquart's impressive documentary on the art of rock-climbing. A co-production from Austria and Germany, the film follows the exploits of brothers Thomas and Alexander Huber as they attempt to break the speed record for The Nose, a landmark climb on El Capitan, Yosemite NP. Intimate and engaging, the film practically swings alongside the climbers as they ascend the sun-drenched granite monolith, the ground an absurdly-distant tree-dotted stretch in the background. This footage is certainly not for acrophobics, and I held my breath on more than a few occasions, certain that, as soon as those thread-like supporting ropes snapped, both climbers were going to plummet to their deaths. But what these climbers lack in common sense they gain in courage, and they wouldn't have it any other way. There's something to be admired in that.
'To the Limit' follows Thomas and Alexander on three rock-climbing expeditions: two attempts at Yosemite, and a third in the frozen wastes of Patagonia, Chile. That each of these ends unsuccessfully is basically irrelevant, and, indeed, it is something of a misnomer to refer to their expeditions as "unsuccessful," since it's ultimately the experience and the adventure that counts. However, I was happy to discover that, in October 2007, the brothers did return to Yosemite, and the speed record is now very much theirs. In the process of risking their lives, the rock-climbers overlook some of the most breathtaking landscapes I've seen, unspoilt wilderness stretching in all directions, its wilderness dwarfed only by its incredible perils. While the brothers deserve full credit for their ambitious climbing efforts, I am astounded at how well their exploits are captured by the filmmakers, the camera, itself dangling hazardously over hundreds of metres of air, capturing the action from all angles.
Of course, there are a few moments when the film strays slightly from the desired path. The dream, in which one of the men imagines himself tumbling from the cliff-face, tries too hard to be dramatic, though I acknowledge that most climbers would, indeed, suffer from such nightmares. Also, Danguart inserts a few too many "intense slow-motion" sequences, which breaks away from the reality of the climbing and tends to cheapen it for the sake of a few music-charged thrills. Despite these complaints, I very much enjoyed 'To the Limit,' particularly as one who has never been all that interested in rock-climbing. Comparisons will certainly be made with Kevin MacDonald's excellent 'Touching the Void (2003),' though they really are quite different films: whereas one uses re-enactments to depict a true story of incredible survival, the other is a very real look at the "ordinary" lifestyle of professional thrill-seeking sportsmen. The two documentaries would make a excellent double-bill, I think.
'To the Limit' follows Thomas and Alexander on three rock-climbing expeditions: two attempts at Yosemite, and a third in the frozen wastes of Patagonia, Chile. That each of these ends unsuccessfully is basically irrelevant, and, indeed, it is something of a misnomer to refer to their expeditions as "unsuccessful," since it's ultimately the experience and the adventure that counts. However, I was happy to discover that, in October 2007, the brothers did return to Yosemite, and the speed record is now very much theirs. In the process of risking their lives, the rock-climbers overlook some of the most breathtaking landscapes I've seen, unspoilt wilderness stretching in all directions, its wilderness dwarfed only by its incredible perils. While the brothers deserve full credit for their ambitious climbing efforts, I am astounded at how well their exploits are captured by the filmmakers, the camera, itself dangling hazardously over hundreds of metres of air, capturing the action from all angles.
Of course, there are a few moments when the film strays slightly from the desired path. The dream, in which one of the men imagines himself tumbling from the cliff-face, tries too hard to be dramatic, though I acknowledge that most climbers would, indeed, suffer from such nightmares. Also, Danguart inserts a few too many "intense slow-motion" sequences, which breaks away from the reality of the climbing and tends to cheapen it for the sake of a few music-charged thrills. Despite these complaints, I very much enjoyed 'To the Limit,' particularly as one who has never been all that interested in rock-climbing. Comparisons will certainly be made with Kevin MacDonald's excellent 'Touching the Void (2003),' though they really are quite different films: whereas one uses re-enactments to depict a true story of incredible survival, the other is a very real look at the "ordinary" lifestyle of professional thrill-seeking sportsmen. The two documentaries would make a excellent double-bill, I think.