wbukato
I was able to watch the movie last Friday on Polish TV, four years after the movie had been made and nine years after the tragedy. And I was disgusted. The movie was a disaster, and if it is an accurate report, the rescue had been a disaster too. The rescue should have started with an attempt to make sure if there were any survivors. Not by simply saying "nobody could have survived this", but by using IR detectors, trained dogs, highly-sensitive microphones - there are numerous options. And what we can see is rescuers listening for survivors' voices by ear! and otherwise just standing or walking in the way of other rescuers. Now that's a well-organized action for me! And when the sole survivor is finally found, instead of dropping everything else and removing what has been piled on top of Stuart Diver, they talk and talk and talk. Indeed - three-fourths of the whole movie is talking. If that's the way rescue is brought in Australia, I surely don't want to go there at all. One more thing: If in the mountains you build a house of reinforced concrete with such poor foundations that melting snow can bring the whole structure down, then you really ask for trouble.
Jennifer_Cornish
When the landslide happened the last thing on anyone's mind was that 5 years down the track we would be watching the same event's unfolding before our eyes being replayed in a telemovie.Craig McLaughlin as Stewart Diver is an interesting choice but he does the role justice. The only problem is that he doesn't look the role because everyone in Australia has seen Stuart Diver's face in the paper 100 times over and would instantly know him if they passed him in the street.This event in Australian history is like our Kennedy assassination... everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when it happened. I remember spending 3 days glued to the television and been drawn to tears when Stuart Diver's face rose out of the rubble. Truly amazing.I give this movie a 7 out of 10 because it is so accurate in detail that you almost think you are looking at the real thing but a lot of detail is left out in the final product.
accurate
Stuart Diver was the only survivor of a watery landslide that engulfed the small ski town of Thredbo in the Australian Alps. Diver clung to life for three days, with his dead wife beside him, while awaiting rescue. The movie portrays the anguish he went through, the reactions of his family, and that of his wife's parents, and the bravery and dedication of his rescuers. There are many poignant moments in the film and I doubt that any viewer would not be moved at least once. My only criticism is that the movie tends to focus too narrowly on the sole rescue, with not enough information given about the tragedy as a whole.
Clayton Bolger
Heroes' Mountain offers a great insight into the Thredbo tragedy. We Australians were devastated by this disaster and we all greatly admired the sole survivor Stuart Diver. This movie shows his ordeal very well, with a fine performance from Craig McLachlan as Diver. Every member of the supporting cast was excellent, lending such believability to their performances that you forgot that you were watching the film, and not the real thing.The only drawback, I felt, was that it didn't deal with the aftermath at all. We got told that Stuart Diver recovered and eventually returned to Thredbo. It would have been good to know other details of the tragedy, rather than just focusing on Diver. How many people were killed? What happened to the families of the victims? What did Stuart Diver achieve after the accident, if anything?It is a well directed film, and very engaging. Particularly for those of us who remember seeing Stuart Diver pulled out live on television in 1997. Well done to all the actors. Definitely worth a look.