Touching the Void (2003)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Kevin Macdonald

Writer:

Joe Simpson (book)

Release Date:

12 December 2003 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary | Adventure | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

The closer you are to death. The more you realize you are alive.

Plot:

The true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.

Plot Keywords:

Rope | Disaster | Crevasse | Broken Leg | Delirium

Awards:

5 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Brendan Mackey	...	Joe Simpson
Nicholas Aaron	...	Simon Yates
Richard Hawking	...	Himself
Joe Simpson	...	Himself
Simon Yates	...	Himself
Ollie Ryall	...	Richard Hawking

Directed by
Kevin Macdonald

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Joe Simpson		book

Produced by
Charles Furneaux	....	executive producer
Robin Gutch	....	executive producer
Gina Marsh	....	line producer
John Smithson	....	producer
Paul Sowerbutts	....	associate producer
Sue Summers	....	co-producer
Paul Trijbits	....	executive producer
Paul Webster	....	chief executive procuder: FilmFour

Original Music by
Alex Heffes

Cinematography by
Mike Eley
Keith Partridge

Film Editing by
Justine Wright

Casting by
Susie Figgis

Production Design by
Patrick Bill

Art Direction by
Patrick Bill

Costume Design by
Patrick Bill

Makeup Department
Sarita Allison	....	makeup designer

Production Management
Emma Clarke	....	executive in charge of production: film council
Peter McAleese	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nick Laws	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Giles Asbury	....	storyboard artist

Sound Department
Tim Alban	....	sound re-recording mixer
Robert Brazier	....	foley editor
Felicity Cottrell	....	foley artist
Richard Davey	....	assistant sound re-recording mixer
Mick Duffield	....	sound recordist
Anthony Faust	....	adr foley mixer
Anthony Faust	....	foley supervisor
Joakim Sundström	....	supervising sound editor
Mark Kenna	....	consultant: Dolby film sound (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Martin Neill	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Matthias Albrecht	....	digital film editor
Simon Burley	....	software and technical
Ben Haworth	....	digital effects artist

Stunts
David Cuthbertson	....	climbing stunt double
Rory Gregory	....	climbing stunt double

Camera and Electrical Department
Oliver Driscoll	....	second assistant camera
Olly Driscoll	....	clapper loader
Christian Klehr	....	grip
Ralph Kulike	....	gaffer
Dan Shoring	....	additional photographer
Dan Shoring	....	first assistant camera
Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert	....	unit photographer: Alps
Chris Thornton	....	film recorder operator
Simon Wagen	....	additional climbing photographer (as Simon Hagen)

Casting Department
Indira Ashton	....	casting assistant

Editorial Department
Stephen Barker	....	post-production consultant
Simon Brook	....	on-line editor
Ben Lester	....	assistant editor
Vincent Narduzzo	....	colorist
Kevin Phelan	....	head of post-production: Lip Sync Post
Jon Thompson	....	post-production consultant

Music Department
Abi Leland	....	music supervisor
Andy Richards	....	score mixer
Bevan Smith	....	composer: electronic music

Other crew
Olly Allen	....	climbing support: Alps
Kim Ballard	....	production financing
Christine Barnes	....	climbing support: Alps
Christine Baxter-Jones	....	production team
Hattie Bowering	....	final delivery and release supervisor
Lesley Brown	....	production team
Eduardo Shuán Caldúa	....	climbing support: Peru
Melorie Chilton	....	legal services for darlow smithson productions
Hugo Milla Chinchay	....	climbing support: Peru
David Cuthbertson	....	key mountain guide
David Cuthbertson	....	safety team
Lucy Daniels	....	production team
Regine Dura	....	production team
John Falkiner	....	key mountain guide
John Falkiner	....	safety team
Michael Fleisher	....	business affairs: Channel 4 International
Néstor Morales Flores	....	trekking leader: Peru
Laura Franses	....	physical production coordinator: FilmFour
Paul Gardner	....	archive researcher
Rory Gregory	....	key mountain guide
Rory Gregory	....	safety team
Paul Grindey	....	business affairs: FilmFour
Brian Hall	....	head mountain guide
Nion Hazell	....	production coordinator
Andrew Hildebrand	....	business affairs: FilmFour
Vinnie Holden	....	head of production finance: film council
Marcelino Milla Huarac	....	climbing support: Peru
Vicky Jones	....	business affairs: Channel 4
Jim Kerr	....	climbing support: Alps
François Marsigny	....	climbing support: Alps
Deborah McLaughlan	....	production team
Jesús Montero	....	production team
Paul Moores	....	key mountain guide
Paul Moores	....	safety team
Pelayo Milla Morales	....	climbing support: Peru
Fiona Morham	....	head of physical production: film council
Eloy Salazar Obregón	....	climbing support: Peru
Rodolfo Reyes Oropeza	....	climbing support: Peru
Emma Parsons	....	production team
James Reekie	....	production accountant
Dr. Martin Rhodes	....	unit doctor
Tim Rhodes	....	climbing support: Alps
Faye Richardson	....	production team
Ollie Ryall	....	climbing support: Alps
Juan Sánchez	....	climbing support: Peru
Joe Simpson	....	additional reconstruction
Joe Simpson	....	consultant
Gillian Strachan	....	production team
Ulla Streib	....	head of production: Darlow Smithson Productions
Gareth Tansey	....	title designer
Harry Taylor	....	key mountain guide
Harry Taylor	....	safety team
Jorge Clemente Vargas	....	climbing support: Peru
Howard Watkins	....	title designer
John N. Whittle	....	key mountain guide (as John Whittle)
John N. Whittle	....	safety team (as John Whittle)
Marc Wolff	....	aerial coordinator
Simon Yates	....	additional reconstruction
Michael J. Harker	....	completion bond company representative (uncredited)

Thanks
Richard Hawking	....	thanks
Adrian Warren	....	thanks
Paul Webster	....	thanks
Marc Wolff	....	thanks
Simon Yates	....	thanks
Marc Ziegler	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Darlow Smithson Productions
• FilmFour
• Pathé
• UK Film Council

Distributors

• Pathé Distribution (2003) (UK) (theatrical)
• A-Film Distribution (2004) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Asmik Ace Entertainment (2005) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Diaphana Films (2004) (France) (theatrical)
• Hopscotch Productions (2004) (Australia) (theatrical)
• IFC Films (2004) (USA) (theatrical)
• Kinowelt Filmverleih (2004) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Monopole-Pathé (2004) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (2004) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Fandango (2005) (Italy) (all media)
• Four Films (2006) (Chile) (all media)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (Germany) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (video)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2005) (Brazil) VHS) (DVD)
• Paramount (2004) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (2004) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• With Cinema (Korea)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (2007) (Finland) (TV)

Special Effects

• Red Vision

Other Companies

• Audiolink Radio Communications  walkie talkies
• Clarity Post Production Sound  sound post-production
• Film Red  special thanks
• Kodak  motion picture film supplied by
• Limehouse Recordings  sound post-production
• Lip Sync Post  HDTV to film transfer
• Lip Sync Post  titles
• Mayflower Recording  adr and foley facilities
• St. Anne's Post  post-production

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Germany:12 | Netherlands:MG6 | Singapore:NC-16 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France

Company:

Darlow Smithson Productions

Trivia:

Again at the end of the movie, another line claims that the route opened by Simon and Joe has never been repeated. This also partially incorrect. Political unrest in the area (because of Sendero Luminoso activities) prevented climbers to reach Siula for many years. However, in 1999, Carlos Buehler, one of the most talented US alpine-style climbers, repeated the route with a companion. In the last section (the one covered by Joe and Simon in their last day on the West face), Buehler decided conditions were too dangerous, and thus opened a more direct variant (humorously named "Avoiding The Touch") going straight up the summit, more technically difficult but safer. They went up the summit ridge but not to the summit proper (as Joe had originally considered), choosing to descend back the climbing route in order to avoid the treacherous North Ridge.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Joe and Simon are walking across the ridge to the summit, there are already footprints in the snow ahead of them.

Quotes:

Simon Yates: rather than just sit here, feeling sorry for myself or whatever, I'll get on with it and I'll die on the way down.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Touching the Void: Return to Siula Grande (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Brown Girl in the Ring

amazing docudrama

You'll be lucky if you have any cuticles left by the time you've finished watching `Touching the Void,' a nail-biting documentary that chronicles a true-life tale of miraculous survival. In 1985, two experienced mountain climbers, Simon Yates and Joe Simpson, set out to scale a peak in the Peruvian Andes. Although they successfully reached the summit, disaster struck as they were making their way back down. In the midst of a blinding blizzard, Joe slipped and broke his leg. The film, based on the book by Joe Simpson himself, recounts the grueling ordeal both men underwent in their efforts to make it back to their base camp alive.

To fully dramatize the experience, director Kevin MacDonald filmed one-on-one interviews with the two survivors (as well as a third companion who didn't go up the mountain with them) commenting and reflecting on the event, then employed actors to reenact the event as it originally happened. MacDonald has done an astonishing job capturing the edge-of-the-seat suspense inherent in the material, this despite the fact that we already know how it will all turn out. By plunging us directly into the heart of the action, we feel we are enduring every death-defying, heartbreaking moment right along with Joe and Simon. `Touching the Void' is, if nothing else, a tour-de-force of breathtaking cinematography and stunt work, one that makes us identify with the characters every step of the way.

Yet, for all its technical expertise, `Touching the Void' is, first and foremost, a human document, a testament to the endurance and survivability of both the human body and the human spirit. The amazing determination and perseverance demonstrated by the two men - especially by the then 25-year-old Joe as he struggles manfully, despite unendurable pain, to reach a place of safety - is inspiring even to those of us who do most of our adventuring from the comfort and safety of our living room armchair, a cold beer in hand. The film also reveals, through their actions and their words twenty some years later, the character of the two men. Simon has to live with the fact that, at a crucial moment in the crisis, he cut Joe loose from his line, consigning his partner to probable death so that he himself could survive – an action for which many fellow mountaineers later criticized Simon. Yet, never once – either then or now – does Joe join in that criticism. On the psychological level, we learn of the cavalcade of emotions and feelings Joe underwent in those moments of greatest desperation when he looked impending death square in the face. This film is as much an adventure of the mind as it is of the body. Paradoxically, at the same time as the film is showing us the indomitableness of the human spirit, it is reminding us how much we humans – even the most daring among us – are, ultimately, at the mercy of a far greater, impersonal and indifferent force known as Nature.

Thanks to the compelling, stranger-than-fiction quality of the tale and the technical brilliance used to re-create it, `Touching the Void' will have you chewing your fingernails down to a nub.