Touching the Void (film)
Encyclopedia
Touching the Void is a 2003 documentary film
based on the book of the same name
by Joe Simpson
about Simpson's and Simon Yates
' disastrous and near fatal attempt to climb the 6,344 metre (20,813 foot) Siula Grande
in the Peru
vian Andes
in 1985.
, manages to lower himself further into the dark abyss despite his broken leg and find an exit leading to the base of the mountain. He then spends days crawling across glacier and rocks with his broken leg and other injuries. Delirious
, he found and crawled into the climbers' base camp the night before the day in which Simon had decided to leave.
.
The BBC1's Film 2011 included Brendan Mackey's performance as Joe Simpson in their Top Five "Should Have Won An Oscar", along with Ingrid Bergman
(for Casablanca
), Anthony Perkins
(for Psycho), Ralph Fiennes
(for Schindler's List
) and Jeff Bridges
(for The Big Lebowski
).
According to the film's end notes Yates received much criticism from some mountaineers for cutting the rope during the descent after the story of what happened to Simpson and Yates reached home (England). Simpson has deeply accepted that Yates did the right thing and practically saved his life, and has always defended him on that matter.
Because Touching the Void is almost all reenactment, it created controversy within the Academy Awards, touching off a debate as to how much of a documentary film could be reenactment, and was instrumental in the Academy resetting its rules.
's Spem in alium
. During one of Joe's many deliriums, he experiences a very strong reminiscence of a Boney M
song, "Brown Girl in the Ring
", a song he hated thoroughly; at one point he was thinking "Bloody hell, I'm going to die to Boney M".
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
based on the book of the same name
Touching the Void
Touching the Void is a 1988 book by Joe Simpson, recounting his and Simon Yates's disastrous and nearly fatal climb of the 6,344-metre Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985....
by Joe Simpson
Joe Simpson (mountaineer)
Joe Simpson is an English mountaineer, author and motivational speaker. He is best known for his book Touching the Void and the 2003 film adaptation of his book.-Early life:...
about Simpson's and Simon Yates
Simon Yates (mountaineer)
Simon Yates is an English mountaineer best known through the book Touching the Void by Joe Simpson, and the film of the same name. Touching the Void recounts the 1985 ascent by Yates and Simpson of the West Face of Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes, Simpson's accident...
' disastrous and near fatal attempt to climb the 6,344 metre (20,813 foot) Siula Grande
Siula Grande
Siula Grande is a mountain in the Cordillera Huayhuash, in the Peruvian Andes. It is 6344 m high and has a subpeak, Siula Chico, 6260 m high.-Touching the Void ascent:In 1985 Siula Grande was climbed by Joe Simpson and Simon Yates...
in the Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
in 1985.
Outline
Both climbers successfully summit the previously unclimbed West Face of Siula Grande in Peru. Simpson is injured during the descent after falling, resulting in a badly broken leg. The pair decide to lower Simpson with the help of ropes on the steep snowy slope, while an enormous storm rages on. Yates cannot see where he is lowering Simpson and the latter eventually drops off a cliff and is suspended by the rope in mid-air. Yates arrests his fall, but does not see the predicament his partner is in nor hear him because of the severity of the storm. After about an hour, Yates realizes that there is little chance of recovery from this situation for either of them and he makes the decision to cut Simpson's rope. After surviving a subzero and stormy night on the mountain, Yates descends, but cannot find his partner. Yates decides his partner is dead, and returns to the base camp alone, where he stays to recover. Simpson, who survived the fall but fell into a large crevasseCrevasse
A crevasse is a deep crack in an ice sheet rhys glacier . Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the sheer stress generated when two semi-rigid pieces above a plastic substrate have different rates of movement...
, manages to lower himself further into the dark abyss despite his broken leg and find an exit leading to the base of the mountain. He then spends days crawling across glacier and rocks with his broken leg and other injuries. Delirious
Delirium
Delirium or acute confusional state is a common and severe neuropsychiatric syndrome with core features of acute onset and fluctuating course, attentional deficits and generalized severe disorganization of behavior...
, he found and crawled into the climbers' base camp the night before the day in which Simon had decided to leave.
Production
The film combines documentary footage of interviews conducted with Simpson, Yates and Richard Hawking with a re-enactment performed by actors Brendan Mackey, Nicholas Aaron and Ollie Ryall. For the film's few Peru segments, Simpson and Yates doubled as their younger selves for long-distance shots of the snow-fluted couloirs of Siula Grande. The film was directed by Kevin MacDonaldKevin MacDonald (director)
Kevin Macdonald is a Scottish director, best known for his films One Day in September, State of Play, The Last King of Scotland and Touching the Void.-Personal life:...
.
The BBC1's Film 2011 included Brendan Mackey's performance as Joe Simpson in their Top Five "Should Have Won An Oscar", along with Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
(for Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
), Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins was an American actor, best known for his Oscar-nominated role in Friendly Persuasion and as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho , and its three sequels.-Early life:...
(for Psycho), Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
(for Schindler's List
Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
) and Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
(for The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, who is referred to as "The Dude". After a case of mistaken identity, The Dude is introduced to a millionaire also named...
).
Responses
During the making of the film, the director and producers invited Simon Yates and Joe Simpson to return to Siula Grande in 2002 for the first time since the events of 1985. Simpson, despite finding the return emotionally difficult and experiencing post traumatic stress syndrome on his return, eventually said that he was happy with the film and its portrayal of the events. Yates, on the other hand, reported having no emotional response to returning to Siula Grande, and decided to have nothing to do with the film once he had returned from the mountain.According to the film's end notes Yates received much criticism from some mountaineers for cutting the rope during the descent after the story of what happened to Simpson and Yates reached home (England). Simpson has deeply accepted that Yates did the right thing and practically saved his life, and has always defended him on that matter.
Because Touching the Void is almost all reenactment, it created controversy within the Academy Awards, touching off a debate as to how much of a documentary film could be reenactment, and was instrumental in the Academy resetting its rules.
Box office
The film was released on 23 January 2004 and grossed $96,973 in the opening weekend. It went on to gross $4,593,598 in America and $9,292,204 from foreign markets for a worldwide total of $13,885,802 after 20 weeks.Music
The climbers reach the summit to the climax of Thomas TallisThomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis was an English composer. Tallis flourished as a church musician in 16th century Tudor England. He occupies a primary place in anthologies of English church music, and is considered among the best of England's early composers. He is honoured for his original voice in English...
's Spem in alium
Spem in alium
Spem in alium is a forty-part Renaissance motet by Thomas Tallis, composed circa 1570 for eight choirs of five voices each. The sacred text has been used as a basis for other choral settings, such as and the...
. During one of Joe's many deliriums, he experiences a very strong reminiscence of a Boney M
Boney M
Boney M. is a Eurodisco group created by German record producer Frank Farian. Originally based in Germany, the four original members of the group's official line-up were Jamaicans Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett, Maizie Williams from Montserrat and Bobby Farrell from Aruba...
song, "Brown Girl in the Ring
Brown Girl in the Ring (song)
"Brown Girl in the Ring" is a traditional children's song in the West Indies. It was originally featured in the game of the same name.Brown Girl in the Ring is a children's ring game thought to have originated in Jamaica....
", a song he hated thoroughly; at one point he was thinking "Bloody hell, I'm going to die to Boney M".