The Beckoning Silence

Star Review

In this fascinating documentary charting Joe Simpson's obsession with mountaineering, the beckoning silence is the long drop from the top of the mountain.

The film was made on location at the North Face of the Eiger with a re-enactment of the ill fated 1936 attempt on the face by modern mountaineers with period equipment. This is the story from Heinrich Harrer's mountaineering classic 'The White Spider' which inspired Joe to climb. Interwoven with the history, Joe climbs selected pitches with modern gear.

This part of the film is spectacular and worth the viewing, but the voiceovers and Joe's talking head, as he discusses the role of fear and the motivations for taking such extreme risks, is really excellent. Joe's cold unflinching analysis of some areas intimately linked with obvious self deception in others is absolutely absorbing.

After 30 years of seeing an average of one friend per year die in the mountains, and his own close shaves, not least the 4 day crawl documented in his first book, 'Touching the Void', Joe is now less keen on walking the knife edge between adventure and stupidity. I think that's good, he's a fine writer and we wouldn't want to lose him.

Alan Hunter on 30th October 2007

View all 6 of Alan Hunter’s reviews

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Film Description

A film that follows mountaineer Joe Simpson to the treacherous north face of the Eiger, the notorious mountain that has killed more than 60 climbers and which has fascinated Simpson since he was a boy. There he confronts the growing doubts and fears he has as a climber reaching the end of his career and in the process, unravels a tragedy that unfolded on the mountain in the 1930s - one that has eerie parallels with his own horrific accident in the Peruvian Andes, and documented in the remarkable film, Touching the Void.

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DVD Extras

• Making-of featurette
• Exclusive interview with prolific climber Chris Bonnington on climbing the North Face of the Eiger.

Film Details

Cast

Joe Simpson

Technical Details