Note that this was a post from my blog at an older location: Posted June 27 2008
Hehehehe… Well this is what I should be writing about right now for my English Assessment… I am to write a review to the documentary, “Touching the Void” (Film version). I am probably not going to get a very good mark for my review (i never really do well in English) but I thought that I may as well review it here just because it may help me write my review… Note that this is not my actual review for my English Assessment…
“Touching the Void” was originally a book written by Joe Simpson and was adapted to as a film/documentary. This documentary explores and retells the events that took place as two mountaineers climbed Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. The two climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, managed to climb the mountain without too much of a problem, It was getting down the mountain that was the hard part. While climbing down, Joe Simpson broke his leg after losing grip on a steep slope thingy. Simon must now help Joe, having a broken leg, get down the rest of the mountain since not all went to plan.
This documentary was very entertaining as it had accurate and very realistic re-enactments. The interviews with Joe, Simon and Richard (The person who took care of base camp while Joe and Simon climbed the mountain) added to the authenticity and the feel of this docudrama and accompanied the re-enactments perfectly. The story of survival was certainly very well told and very well dramatised. The film was nominated for 12 awards of which 5 were won (as of time of review).
Probably one of the most notable parts, is when Joe was starting to become delirious and he got the song, “Brown Girl In The Ring” (hence review title name), stuck in his head and he thought “Bloody hell… I’m gonna die to Boney M”… I found that this documentary was certainly one of the best documentaries I’ve seen and I found that there was very little bad things to be said about this film. I certainly hope I get a good mark for my English Assessment as I feel that this “Review” did not help me at all…
Overall Rating – 9.5 out of 10
More info on “Touching the Void”: Wikipedia ||| The Internet Movie Database
