Beyond the Edge

"If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go." Edmund Hillary

I don't know about you, but climbing a thousand feet up a hill is not my idea of fun, much less going over 29,000 feet to the summit of Mt. Everest as Edmund Hillary did heroically in 1953. Writer/director Leanne Pooley in Beyond the Edge has done the next best thing, thrilling me with old footage and expert re-enactment to help me understand the heroics necessary to pull off that feat.

In other words, her Beyond the Edge is a successful documentary that doesn't rely on fake sets and swelling orchestration to tell the story of Col. John Hunt's (John Wraight) expedition, in which Hillary (Chad Moffitt) is given the opportunity to be the first human to reach the summit with the help of Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (Sonam Sherpa). Although this doc doesn't have the suspense of Touching the Void, it is a realistic rendering in the spirit of Sir Ernest Shackelton's doomed Antarctica expedition told in The Endurance.

While Hillary has a hairy moment of slipping over an edge only to be saved by Tenzing, the rest is an authentic depiction of slow ascent with the usual challenges of rapidly-declining oxygen and impending monsoons.

It's the measured pace I like, the strategizing and assessing, done with the cool you'd expect from seasoned climbers, some of whom have been disciplined military officers. The intercutting with shots from the past and narration by Hillary, his son, Hunt, and George Lowe, among others, works seamlessly to give you the feeling you're carrying a backpack.

As for the 3-D, I'm not always a fan, but here it works well enough not to be distracting. A few bees enter and exit the frame to no spectacular effect, but otherwise the experience is enhanced by the semblance of reality. As for the ambition and ego necessary to make it to the top, Hillary expressed it well:

"No one remembers who climbed Mount Everest the second time."

1st of all i want to thank the director for making this amazing and worth watching documentary. I liked this documentary from start to end.It kept me excited all the way because of some of the amazing camera work that i have seen yet. I am already a mountain lover and after watching this movie i can't control my love for the mountains and for the amazing nature that has been documented in this documentary. I would recommend this movie for anyone but especially for those who are more forgiving towards nature and for the people who like mountain's climbing e.t.c If you want to see a perfect made documentary on the ascent of the highest peak of earth then you have to look nowhere else.This documentary film presents every thing that is needed for a documentary to be an awesome documentary. From me i would rate this movie 10 out of 10. Love it amazing experience.

This is a matter of fact description with pictures of Hillary's climb of Mount Everest in 1953. The documentary lacks drama and emotion and really is not that technical either. It does give some understanding of the route taken and hardship of the climb but at times it felt like watching a news real account of the event without any real depth or insight into the characters of those involved. Sorry to say even the 3D aspect wasn't enough to keep my interest. The one stunning view was from the summit but outside of that the 3D aspect was never fully achieved to make the viewing any better than two dimensional. Unfortunately the story is well known and generally the audience has more knowledge of the event than what the movie relates. Disappointing.

It takes a sophisticated filmmaker to take us though a well known epic adventure with the grip of an efficient emotional narrative, technical intelligence and visual grace. That is precisely what L Pooley does in her recent film Beyond The Edge. The subtle usage of 3D, which could have been an excuse to overload the film with an abusive imposition of random and endless visual planes, allows the viewer to experience the amazing adventure of two unique men and a unique mountain, in a quiet and mesmerizing manner. There is not one moment in the film in which the tension and the expectation of what is taking place in the story is diminished by the fact that we all know what the story is about. Great film not to be missed!

An excellent telling of the story of the conquest of Everest. A detailed and fascinating account of the first successful expedition that seamlessly blends historical footage and pictures with recreations while telling the story of the whole expedition, including the strategy, tactics, equipment, procedures and internal politics of who would be chosen to attempt the summit. After watching several of the historical and more recent Everest films, this one filled in some information holes and provided an insight to the "real deal" as told by those who were on the team, recalling personal and important pieces of the expedition.