mountain…

I went to the Watershed this afternoon to see Jennifer Peedom’s 74 minute “Mountain” documentary film. I sat next to my lovely friend Sarah (and, if you think I go to the Watershed ‘quite a lot’ then, believe me, I’m just on the nursery slopes compared to Sarah’s attendance record!).
I LOVE mountains…
But mountains SCARE me.
Mountaineering books FASCINATE me…
But I’m PETRIFIED of heights.
The above just about sums up my attitude towards altitudes (anything taller than a double-decker bus is probably too much of a personal challenge).

But, hey, I just knew from the trailer that this film would include stunning photography (combining archive footage with new footage shot in 21 countries by legendary mountaineer/cinematographer Renan Ozturk), wonderful music (including an orchestral score drawing on Chopin, Grieg, Vivaldi and Beethoven) and Robert Macfarlane’s evocative text narrated by Willem Dafoe (Macfarlane is a long-time hero of mine!).

Well, I certainly found the whole experience quite, quite mesmerising.
Breathtaking images. Footage of brave/foolhardy/ridiculous(?) mountaineers and skiers (or ‘ski athletes’ as I think the credits described them)(‘between majesty and madness’) undertaking the most outrageous challenges; stunning, almost ‘abstract art’ distance shots of dozens of skiers threading their way down snow-covered mountains; cyclists on skylines; sky-jumpers (or whatever they’re called) launching themselves into the unknown; the wonders of the natural world – including erupting volcanoes.
Whilst much of the film showed beautiful scenery and fearless climbers/skiers/parachutists/cyclists, it also touched on the dangers and the tragedies… and also the commercialisation that mountaineering has become – with footage showing literally hundreds of tourist mountaineers trudging their way towards the foothills of Everest (“this isn’t climbing, it’s queuing”).
I know that, with Blue Planet television documentaries and the like, we’re all completely used to seeing stunning visual images of the natural world… but I was VERY impressed by Peedom’s film. Definitely worth watching (even if you’re scared of heights!).
PS: I was amused by a couple of handwritten postcards pinned to the Watershed ‘film review noticeboard’… one said “Mountains only get that big because they have no natural predators” and “Not as good as Jurassic Park” (I think the author pins this to the noticeboard for every film)!