Le otto montagne

As children (during summer holidays in the Italian Alps) two young boys become acquainted, with a purity and innocence that's well painted, bonding as brothers in a way, having great fun the days they play, quite different backgrounds, but that affect, is far from tainted. As they get older their own journeys change direction, until one loses a father, then reconnection, and a project is established, to realise the one that's passed wish, and from the rubble and old wood, there's introspection. As time passes they move on to different glades, one travels, one a family does raise, but like the land with all those highs, there are some lows that can capsize, as life can be transformed, by where you graze.

This is a very special film about a lifelong friendship between Bruno (Alessandro Borghi) and Pietro (Luca Marinelli). Bruno was born and raised in the mountain, while Pietro learned to love the mountain through his father (Filippo Timi) but he is from the big city, Turin.

Felix Groeningen and are people from flatlands, but sincerely fascinated by the book and learned to love high mountain. This is a film about this friendship, often silent and distant, but very deep ubreakable. It's also a film about the few Europeans who still love places of great beauty but distant from social interaction and the comfort of technology. As at one point Bruno says he is good at one thing: to live alone on the mountain. This is a quality that is more and more rare and the directors have made a great film.

This movie is beautiful. It's about life, childhood, living the life, death, existential crisis and friendship. It's a slow burner but never boring - on the contrary - you want to know the whole story about the two main characters and how they end up in life.

The scenery is stunning - from the alps to the Himalayas.

This is not pure entertainment- more like reading a book with pure wisdom and plenty of life experience. I suspect the story will stay with me for days or weeks. The acting is top notch.

However, this is the very opposite to the pure entertaining Hollywood movie, and is maybe not optimal for a Friday night after a long workweek.

I was completely seduced from start to finish by the atmosphere, by the tenderness and the love that emerges from the fantastic story of this friendship.

The images are sublime and authentic. We can very well feel the influences of Sean Penn's "Into The Wild" in this film.

The music is also superb. I recommend to all movie buffs. For this me, this movie has it all.

The images of nature are breathtaking and remind us of the difficulties of living in the mountains. This film exudes authenticity and true relationships between humans.

The Italian actors are incredibly accurate.

It reminded me of the 70's.

I warmly recommend.

Felix Van Groeningen, the director of The Eight Mountains, was born and raised in an area that's as flat as a pancake. I know, because I live there. There are no mountains in Flanders.

Maybe it takes a flatlander like Van Groeningen to really appreciate the beauty of mountains. His film starts with magnificent images of the Italian Alps, the area where The Eight Mountains takes place. In fact, the whole movie seems to be an ode to the beauty of the mountains. The vistas from the highest summits and the calm of a mountain lake: the images are magnificent.

And so is the story of the two friends, who both love those mountains. As a child, city dweller Pietro befriends Bruno, who lives in a small mountain village. Their friendship continues when they are adults. The film shows how they both try to shape their lives, each in their own way. Both are drawn to the mountains, but in different ways.

Van Groeningen, together with his wife Charlotte Vandermeersch, has made a beautiful and poetic movie about the friendship between Bruno and Pietro. The two men don't show their emotions easily, and the film doesn't aim for easy effects either. In an understated, subtle way, the movie shows how their lives divert, but remain connected through their mutual love for the mountains. It's well directed, well acted and beautifully filmed. This film will find a natural audience: the readers of Paolo Cognetti's bestseller it's based on. But those who haven't read the book might also be fascinated by the friendship between Pietro and Bruno.