Review: Everest

"The last word always belongs to the mountain." Indeed, the mighty Everest can offer both triumph and tragedy for those who attempt to reach its summit. All throughout the trek, safety is not guaranteed and the experience is mostly just pain with a missing toe or finger as a reminder of one's efforts. So why do it? "Because it's there" was British mountaineer George Mallory's retort, an attitude that had equal parts pragmatism and nonchalance. He and his climbing partner Andrew Irvine both disappeared during their 1924 ascent of the world's highest mountain.

"Because it's there" is laughingly invoked by several members of the two expedition groups that prepare to summit Mount Everest in May 1996. Even if you're not familiar with the outcome of their pilgrimage, you can be sure that many of these members may encounter the same fate as their 1924 predecessors. Yasuko Namba (Naoko Mori) has already climbed six of the Seven Summits and is hoping to be the oldest woman to reach the mountain's top. Doug Hansen (John Hawkes) came close to the summit in his previous attempt but safety concerns forced him to turn back. This is his third try, and possibly his last chance. He's not a rich man - he worked two jobs to raise money for this trip - but he wants to prove that a regular guy can pursue an extraordinary dream. For Texan Beck Weathers (Josh Brolin), climbing is in his bloodstream. He can't seem to give it up even as it jeopardises his marriage to Peach (Robin Wright), whose patience with his passion has worn as thin as the high altitude "death zone," a part of the mountain where low temperatures and atmospheric pressure can prove fatal.

For Jon Krakauer (Michael Kelly), the expedition is a magazine assignment to cover the growing popularity of the guided climbing tours. His presence results in brief friction between rival tour guides Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Rob Hall (Jason Clarke). The two guides, however, join forces despite their differing philosophies - Scott finds Rob to be too much of a hand holder whilst he believes that if you can't get up there yourself, you shouldn't be on the mountain at all.

There are also other characters in the fray, though not on the mountain. Foremost is Helen Wilton (Emily Watson), the base camp manager who maintains communication with the climbers via walkie-talkie. Guy Cotter (Sam Worthington), another guide and close friend of Rob's, will prove a pivotal figure as the two groups are trapped in a severe snowstorm. Then there's Jan (Keira Knightley), Rob's wife, a climber herself now pregnant with their first child, who must stay strong even as all signs point to her never seeing Rob again.

What's particularly remarkable about William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy's screenplay is how brutal it is in its matter-of-fact accounting of the ill-fated expedition. Typically, a gallery of individuals would be introduced, most would expound on the spirituality of the journey, most would be romanticised. If the tale was slanted as a blockbuster, then spectacle would abound. Those anticipating such tropes should leave their expectations at the door for Everest is not the usual glossy disaster movie/action thriller. Everest is spectacular and there are countless scenes that awe - the shot of the camera panning around Rob to reveal the oncoming storm is breathlessly terrifying - but the screenwriters and director Baltasar Kormákur are focused on executing a disaster movie that in no way feels like one and a survival tale in which both the survivors and the victims are recognised but not exalted.

They show that, against the imposing mountainscape, people who have names, families, ambitions are but mere specks; that one doesn't necessarily think about the philosophical or spiritual or emotional impulses that drive one onward because the main thing is to literally put one foot in front of another; that all the knowledge, experience, and determination are nothing compared to the fearsome whimsy of Mother Nature and a mountain that will always survive you.

Most affectingly, even as each actor becomes more unrecognisable and anonymous amidst the layers of gear and snow, the film achieves a humanity that does not feel manipulative. Life feels precious here, not because that life is portrayed by Gyllenhaal or Clarke or Hawkes (though all give excellent performances as do all the other members of the cast), but because it can be taken away in an instant. The image of one delirious climber taking one step before falling into nothingness is as harrowing as watching another climber half-buried in the snow, listening to his dying breaths as the cold slowly but surely suffocates the life within.

Everest

Directed by: Baltasar Kormákur

Written by: William Nicholson, Simon Beaufoy

Starring: Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Hawkes, Josh Brolin, Emily Watson, Keira Knightley, Robin Wright, Sam Worthington, Martin Henderson, Michael Kelly, Elizabeth Debicki, Naoko Mori, Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson