If you take nothing else from this documentary, take this: The absolute disconnect each of the visitors has to nature, self-awareness, personal responsibility, and their own humanity represented in this documentary is appalling. I've never remotely considered climbing Mt Everest an accomplishment but a crime against nature. The destruction of the mountain, the pollution, the garbage left behind, the learned lacked of humanity while stepping over the dead to get to an ego-driven checkbox on some egocentric list? Disgusting. If I were Everest I'd blow every week.
At the beginning, they tried to claim that "most ppl think it's just a bunch of rich ppl... some are just ordinary!" Ordinary?? How absolutely insulting and insane. Rich people are some of the most ordinary uncreative dangerously stupid inconsiderate creatures on earth. And this movie - while excellent- also leaves the viewer wondering why? Why make a doc about rich western ppl who have no connection to Nepal? The hotel owner, his employees and the reps of the govt and rescue effort, the villagers should have been the focus. Yes.
But I am also glad they showed the Israeli men too. They wear their victimhood like a badge of honor, continuously disrespecting the villagers who lost EVERYTHING, speaking as if the villagers were not equal to them, that THEIR lives were MORE important. They made me sick to my stomach Never once was there a mention - "if we are stuck here maybe we can find a way to help these people". Never happened once. Disgusting people.
Western culture has lost the plot. We are so beyond arrogant and ignorant this movie reveals that we, in our heart of hearts truly believe every mountain, every foreign culture, every THING belongs to us - to use and abuse at our will.
And the photographer? I'm waiting to see if she sells her photos and donates every penny to the villagers. Otherwise she's just as bad - and she never criticizes the behavior of her Israeli buddies either. The sorrow I felt for the people who lost their homes and loved ones still stays with me. The anger and grief I have for the selfishness of every visitor (except the HIV patient who gave compelling reasons for his decisions) still sickens me.
