zee I suspect that for mountain climbers and wannabes, this is a 10 star film, so I'll give it stars for them. And it certainly is beautiful.However, no matter how many climbing films I watch, I never get a good answer to the question in my mind which is, why do this incredibly dangerous thing? Jon Krakauer says, "he had to," but that is patently false. Nobody has to!And so I am left at the end of this film with the same judgments I always have. I think, these men are bad sons, bad brothers, then bad boyfriends, then bad husbands, then bad fathers. I can't honor them. I suspect they are a little bit stupider than the average person. I suspect a psychiatrist could diagnose them with some mental illness. I'm struggling here to come to a kinder place, but I cannot. And if you don't want people to make judgments of you for doing a stupid, risky, suicidal thing, then you either shouldn't do this thing at all or you shouldn't make movies bragging about it.

Antonius Block This is the story of the first successful hike up Meru Peak in the Himalayas, a brutal and treacherous ascent, and also the backstories of the three hikers, Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk. Chin also co-directed and was the main cinematographer, and captures some stunning shots. What's fascinating is the tragedy in these men's lives, and I don't mean the trio's first unsuccessful bid up Meru that ended just 100 meters short. Anker's mentor died on a climb, and later his best friend died in an avalanche that hit them both. Ozturk went off a cliff while shooting mountain skiers at Jackson Hole, fracturing his skull and nearly dying. Chin miraculously survived a monster avalanche in the same place four days later. All of these stories are shown in retrospectives, and are just as compelling as the final attempt up Meru's infamous 'Shark's Fin' route. The film captures the mentality of the hikers, why they're so driven, their mentorship of younger hikers, and the ultimate trust they must have in each other. It seems like a crazy thing to do, but they're quite intelligent about measuring risk, extremely skilled at climbing, and stoically persevere despite extreme cold and very difficult conditions. It really makes the documentary feel complete, and I have to say, seeing them up on that narrow ridge at the end is inspiring.

inioi First of all, as climber I will say that I will not detract the climbing in itself, which would be remarkable. The same applies to photography and music which are at a good level.When I see this documentary, instead of seeing a story about a more or less objective climbing, i find quite self-glorification:For instance"High mountaineering is very risky, it is the Most Dangerous professional sport". "Meru definitely had a reputation as impossible climb". "this is the mountain That everyone's tried and failed on". "This climb has seen more Attempts and more failures than any route of Himalaya" "some of the best climbers in the world Have tried and failed on" ...etc, etc....It's a shame because the climbing is good by itself, and all the gimmicky stuff does anything but to take away the credibility.i have the feeling that someone tries to sell me something, namely: "we are heroes", "Our families are suffering because of our climbing"... is this really necessary...?It is clear that this movie is intended for the general public (who is not into climbing).

Regular Critic Watched it after reading the good reviews on IMDb. The reviews are right in many ways, at least the positive ones.First this is not a movie . This is real life with real drama , tragedy , courage , hope and a celebration of human spirit.The documentary captures the eerie beauty and loneliness of the most amazing mountain range in the world. There is cracking footage of 3 courageous men slowly inching up to the summit 20000 ft above land.At times the viewer will feel the very real vertigo , the absolute silence , the sheer complexity of the climb. It is said that this route to Meru is the most difficult in the list of mountaineering challenges.The night sky looks like you are in space literally. I guess the climbers had the fortune of good weather resulting in beautiful cinematography .What some may find equally moving and beautiful is the story of each of their struggles and how they use the climb to the top as a catharsis of sorts.Best documentary in a long long time.