Hey guys!
So i actually didn't have any plan to do a single movie review this month-and even after i watched this movie i still didn't intend to make one, but after more than a week later and i am still obsessing over it (not the movie in particular, but the stories around the event), i decided that i should do a stand-alone review for this movie so i can talk about it more than what i limit myself to do for my monthly reviews!
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| Everest |
This movie is based on a true story (that doesn't mean that every single scene really happened in real life, of course they gotta make it more dramatic to engage the viewers) of what's known as "1996 Mount Everest Disaster" where 8 people died in a single day on May 10th 1996 (the event took course between 10-11th). I knew nothing of this story when it really happened (i was 13, and world news didn't interest me back then), so i went to the movie knowing nothing.
The movie follows the journey of Rob Hall (a famous mountaineering turned commercial mountain guide with very good credentials) and his team (of paid clients and hired Sherpas) that intertwined with his rival guide, Scott Fischer, during their attempt to summit the highest mountain on earth, Mount Everest. Everything seems to be going pretty well, but for some reasons some of the climbers (including Rob and Scott) got stuck in the area called "death zone" when a violent storm strikes.
We (the viewers) were gripped in our seats while we watched those men and women tried to survive, and we wept when Rob talked to his wife for one last time (did i ruin it for ya? So sorry, i mean... If you google the story you'd know Rob didn't make it so i hope it's okay that i spill it) and marvel at the majestic beauty that is the Everest (seriously you guys, watch it in Imax. You need to see it in 3D too).
The movie itself is pretty good, it's not actually mind blowingly good, it's pretty long and the first half of the movie (the preparation and character introduction part) might be boring for some people (although it didn't bore me). Also, i feel like the actors really did a good job in depicting the very real people. Of course, Jake Gyllenhaal caught my eyes, i always sort of fancy him anyway *LOL*.
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| Jake Gyllenhaal as Scott Fischer |
And another one that stole my attention was Jason Clarke. I've watched him in many movies by now, never even remotely found him attractive *LOL*, but his role as Rob Hall made me see what makes him a leading man. He is charismatic and draw you in, especially with those icy blue eyes.
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| Jason Clarke |
I definitely would recommend this movie (but maybe not if you're easily bored and very impatient because like i mentioned earlier, it takes a while to get to the action part), if only for the view, or the eye candies.
But while i really like the movie, it's the story itself that is magnetizing to me. What makes people so drawn to Everest that they would risk their lives trying to conquer it? What's so special? And other than the obvious, why is it so hard to climb it, and the fact that i killed even the best in the mountaineering world-although it is said to be a very straight forward kind of mountain with all the commercial climbing services available. It is not, let's say, K2 (seriously, my mountaineering vocab has grown exponentially since i watched Everest *LOL*, never heard of K2 before either)!
More over, there were so many unexplainable, confusing scenes in the movie that made both hunny and i confused. What just happened...? Anyhoo, if you haven't watched this movie and planning to, you might want to stop here (spoiler alert!!!) and come back when you're done (please do! Let's discuss it!) but if you've watched it/not planning to, then go right ahead.
After i watched Everest, i got what i call cyber Everest bug, i became super curious and wanted to know a lot more about what happened on May 10th 1996, i began searching for stories (and ended up reading Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer *finished it within two days*, the journalist who was in Rob Hall expedition, and he also commented that the movie version of his story is "bull" LOL), interviews with the survivors (i also sadly found that some of the initial survivors died within months/years, often in other mountaineering accidents) and also obsessively watched documentaries about Everest (surprise? I love documentaries. I know a lot of people think i am an air head just because i love makeup and fashion, and i can be a little off when i talk about things that don't interest me-but trust me, i am anything but stupid. In fact i might be a lot smarter than most of you hahaha).
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| What makes people risk their lives to reach the summit? |
I don't know about you, but what i really wanted to know was the stuffs that made me confused throughout the movie. If like me, you know nothing about mountaineering, then you'd probably be as confused as me (or not. Tell ya i can be a bit bimbotic at times) so imma shed the light in all of those questions.
First of all, i was very confused when in once scene while they were ascending, they seemed to passed what seemed to be... a human. The person was lying down but the team just passed him/her with nothing more than a little glance. I was like... What the hell was that in the scene, was it really a human? If yes then why nobody seemed to be concerned seeing someone lying in the snow in the middle of nowhere?
The answer comes very quickly, that yes-it is a human. A human's body, to be exact. As in he/she is no longer alive, and haven't been for a while. Over 200 climbers have lost their lives in Everest and most of them still lie there at this very moment-where they fell/collapsed and never stood again.The reason why they are left there varies, mostly because it's almost impossible (and very expensive) to try to get them down the mountain (especially if they lie around the death zone), another reason is because the families of the person never gave their consent to move the bodies.
The answer comes very quickly, that yes-it is a human. A human's body, to be exact. As in he/she is no longer alive, and haven't been for a while. Over 200 climbers have lost their lives in Everest and most of them still lie there at this very moment-where they fell/collapsed and never stood again.The reason why they are left there varies, mostly because it's almost impossible (and very expensive) to try to get them down the mountain (especially if they lie around the death zone), another reason is because the families of the person never gave their consent to move the bodies.
Why were the expedition members didn't seem to bat an eyelash upon passing the body? Because unlike me, they already knew there were going to be a lot of bodies lying around (mostly covered with snow but some are still very visible) and they also know if they became incapacitated while in the death zone, they might very well become one of those bodies as well because nobody can save them but themselves. If they became unable to walk/move by themselves, there's just no way that anyone else can help carry them down.
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| Green Boots, one of the most well known bodies in Everest. He has became somewhat of a landmark for the climbers |
What is the death zone? It's the area above 8000 meters where there is simply not enough oxygen for human to breathe. There is simply no way to acclimatize and human cannot survive more than 48 hours there. Your body would literally be dying once you're in the death zone so you must summit and go down as quickly as possible (which is also quite impossible because when breathing is so hard, climbing is even harder!). If a climber got injured/collapsed in the death zone, it is generally accepted that they would be left to die unless they can move.
I was also confused when i saw the scene where Andy Harris just kept on saying there's no full oxygen bottle and Jon Krakauer kept on telling him it's there. I was like, what is going on? Where is the oxygen? Did the Sherpa forgot to stash the fresh supplies there? Or someone else use them?
The answer was : there are fresh oxygen stash. Most probably Andy Harris was already suffering from an altitude sickness, one of the very first sign of which is confusion. That's why he was insisting that there was no full oxygen tank even though there clearly were. This, according to Into Thin Air, is one of the critical points in which contributes greatly to tragedy. Of course, we'll never know, but from what i read, that's the reason why the scene i mentioned earlier was there.
Another interesting thing to me about the movie vs real life is the age difference between Rob Hall and Scott Fischer. When they died, Rob was 35 (very young, that explains why his wife was expecting their first child) and Scott was 40-the actor playing Rob is 46 years old Jason Clarke, while Jake Gyllenhaal who played Scott is 34. I initially thought Rob's much older than Scott because i watched the movie first, but now i know better!
Oh well, i don't know if any readers of this blog would even find this interesting, but i am so fascinated and i need to share it!
I can't think of any more things to add, so... Imma stop here. And not going to post a selfie here because i'm superstitious and i already don't like posting dead people's pics in this blog, let alone sharing space with my selfie *LOL*.
Toodles!
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- 11:55:00 PM
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