Touching The Void Review

by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)
January 28th, 2004
TOUCHING THE VOID
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Simon Yates and Joe Simpson were experienced Alps climbers who attempted to be the first to climb the West Face of the Andean Siula Grande mountain. They succeeded, but on the way down Joe had a terrible accident which shattered his kneecap. Simon single-handedly lowered Joe down the mountain for hundreds of feet, but after several hours of Joe not responding to his signals, Simon decided he had to cut his friend's lifeline. Yet it is Joe's best selling novel that Oscar-winning documentarian Kevin Macdonald ("One Day in September) has dramatized, "Touching the Void."

Macdonald takes such an unusual approach with "Touching the Void," intercutting the talking heads of the three principals with recreations using actors, that one wonders why he didn't just make the leap out of the documentary genre altogether. While the dramatizations are effective, with cinematographer Mike Eley ("The Navigators") providing dazzling images of a dangerous sport, the storytelling by Yates, Simpson and Richard Hawking (a British traveler who went along and waited at base camp) is sometimes distancing when their words aren't used as voiceover narration. Macdonald also keeps his three interviewees separated when their interactions two decades later could have added more emotional depth to the tale.

Yates and Simpson provide the requisite mountain climbing background info as we watch Nicholas Aaron (HBO's "Band of Brothers") and Brendan Mackey ("Nine Dead Gay Guys") dwarfed by the majestic, snow-covered Andes. They prefer the alpine style of climbing, where all supplies are curried in rucksacks rather than establishing camps at different altitudes. One describes the sport as a combination of ballet and gymnastics, a mix of power and grace. It is explained that the body dehydrates much more quickly at higher altitudes. All these facts come into play as we see them work against the team in harrowing circumstances.

Simpson's lovely language, describing the treacherous snow cliffs as meringues, mushrooms and cornices is poetic, especially accompanied by Eley's visual examples. His descriptive powers also make us wince with empathy through his injury and become thoughtful as he cements his disbelief in God. He plunges us into the lowest depths of human existence, survival, where his own sense of self almost vanishes. Yates, on the other hand, is more matter-of-fact, calming retelling his controversial decision to cut the rope Joe was attached to, a decision Simpson has always supported. Oddly, Hawking repeats his preference for Yates's company several times, but professes no guilt when Yates returns without Simpson. We also are given no indication of the threesome's current relationship.
Yet, "Touching the Void" is an incredible story of human endurance and man's metaphysical ties to his environment. In choosing this documentary/docudrama hybrid style, however, Macdonald should have reached for more insights than already found in his source material.

B

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